Life Surprises You
by MarsBar656
Summary: The trial is over, and Tony and Ziva are preparing to go back to work. Things are finally starting to seem almost normal, until a family visit interrupts life at NCIS. First DiNozzo Sr., and then Eli David. Trust is something that is earned, not given – a lesson that both fathers need to learn. (FOLLOWS FOR YOU, AND YOU'RE NOT ALONE)
1. Chapter 1

_Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be starting part 3 of this series! I've decided to try and upload on Saturday evening/night, that way I have time to work on writing during the week, but if I have a chapter I'm happy with before Saturday comes, it will definitely be posted! Anyway, read on, and I hope you enjoy this story!_

* * *

 _ **One**_

Tony's leg bounced nervously under the table as he watched the psychologist in charge of his psych evaluations sitting across from him. He had been declared concussion free by doctor Roberts the week before, and he was getting antsy sitting at home doing nothing.

He watched the dark-skinned woman scribble notes quickly on her notepad before she looked back up at him.

"Thank you, agent DiNozzo, that's all I need for today." She told Tony.

Tony pushed the rolling chair away from the conference room table and stood up.

"Thanks." He said before turning to walk out of the room.

He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath. He hated psych evals, even if they were necessary. He jogged down the stairs toward the squad room where Ziva, Gibbs, and McGee were doing paperwork.

Ziva looked up when she noticed a figure coming down the walkway. She smiled when she realized it was Tony.

"How did it go?" She asked as he stopped in front of her desk, leaning against the small wall that separated Ziva's space from the walkway.

Tony shrugged. "Okay I guess. What are you working on?" He asked.

Ziva closed the file she was working on. "I actually just finished, I haven't started this one yet." She told him.

McGee looked up. "If you guys wanna get going I'll take it back Ziva."

Ziva smiled a bit. "If it is alright with you." She told McGee.

He nodded. "Yeah, sure, I don't mind." He said.

Ziva handed the file over to McGee and walked back to her desk to grab her coat.

"See ya later." Tony called as he and Ziva exited the squad room.

Ziva turned to wave and followed Tony.

They stepped into the elevator and Tony's hand reached for Ziva's. The Israeli tangled their fingers together tightly, squeezing Tony's hand.

"Are you alright?" She asked, looking up at him.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I think so." He said.

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "Do you want to go get the rest of your things now, or wait until we have some help?" Ziva asked.

They stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor and walked toward the entrance.

"I don't really think we need help, it's only a few more boxes." Tony told her, pulling the door open to let her out into the crisp November air.

Ziva nodded. "Alright, we can do that now if you like?" She said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

XXXXX

Tony grabbed the key to his apartment out of his jacket pocket and slid it into the lock. He twisted the key and pushed the door open and stepped into the apartment.

They both thought it looked strange with no movie posters or photos on the walls.

"Junior?" A familiar voice called from the kitchen.

Tony whipped around just in time to watch his father walk toward them.

"Dad?" Tony asked, shooting a surprised look at Ziva, who shrugged. She didn't know what he was doing there either.

Senior walked up to his son and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly before he moved on to Ziva, hugging her, and kissing her cheeks.

"How are you?" Ziva asked politely.

Senior smiled. "I'm fantastic." He told her. He turned to look at Tony. "Where in hell is all your stuff?" He asked.

Tony bit his lip. "It's at Ziva's place." He told him.

Senior looked at Ziva, as if he needed confirmation.

The brunette nodded and Senior looked back toward Tony.

"So, you two are finally a… wow… took you long enough, Junior." Senior said.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Seriously?" He asked.

Senior shrugged. "It's true. I would've scooped her up the moment I met her." He told his son.

Ziva laughed. "Maybe I chose the wrong DiNozzo then." She told Tony playfully.

Tony reached out and pulled Ziva close to him, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

"I don't think so." He said simply, kissing the side of her head.

Ziva smiled brightly, leaning back into Tony.

"We just came to get the rest of the boxes." He told Senior, hoping it would move his father along.

"Do you want some help?" Senior asked.

Ziva smiled. "Help would be great." Ziva said.

Senior smiled. "Well let's go then." He said, walking toward the corner where the taped-up boxes were stacked.

Between the three of them, piling the boxes into the back of Ziva's Mini took no time at all, and soon they were standing beside the car in the middle of a conversation.

"Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?" Ziva asked.

Senior smiled. "Only if you'll let me cook." He told her.

"No, no, you are a guest, I can cook no problem." Ziva said.

Senior shook his head. "I insist." He said.

Ziva looked up at Tony, who laughed lightly to himself, and she conceded. "Alright, alright, you can cook."

Senior smiled brightly. "Excellent. I've got a car, I'll follow you over?" He asked. "Actually, we better stop at a grocery store first." He corrected.

Ziva nodded. "Alright, that is easy enough." She said.

Senior split from the couple and got into his rental car, waiting for Tony and Ziva to lead him to a grocery store.

Tony closed the car door and looked over at Ziva as she started the car.

"Why is he here? Why didn't he call?" Tony asked quickly.

Ziva shrugged. "I suppose we will find out." She told him honestly.

She pulled out of the parking garage and watched the rear-view mirror as Senior followed her.

She pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store that was closest to her apartment and took the key out of the ignition.

Tony jumped a bit when Senior tapped on his window with his key. He opened the door and stepped out of the car.

"What do you feel like?" Senior asked the couple.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other.

"Chicken?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "Sure." She said as she began to walk toward the store to get out of the cool air.

Tony and Senior followed her quickly. They were embraced in the warmth of the store and Senior grabbed a basket out of the stack.

Tony reached for Ziva's hand as they followed Senior through the store, watching him pick out what he needed.

"I won't have time to make dessert, are you two okay with store-bought pie?" Senior asked, turning around to look at them.

"We don't really need desert dad." Tony objected weakly.

Senior shook his head. "Ziva hasn't ever experienced a true DiNozzo dinner, and I won't skimp out on the first one." He insisted.

Tony groaned, rolling his eyes. "There's only three of us! An entire pie is ridiculous!" Tony told his father.

"Pie is good for a few days after its baked son, it doesn't have to be eaten in one sitting." Senior said.

Ziva bit back a laugh as she watched the two men interact. She loved that even if Tony's relationship with his father was… complicated, he still had some sort of relationship with him at all.

Tony rested his head in his hand, realizing that his father wasn't going to give anything up.

"Fine, we'll take a pie." He mumbled.

Senior smiled. "Apple or cherry?" He asked confidently.

Tony gestured for Ziva to answer.

"Cherry." Ziva said, laughing lightly.

Senior grabbed the pie and put it in the basket and headed for the checkout.

Tony took Ziva's hand and walked with her through the store, watching his father walk happily in front of them.

XXXXX

"And that got you expelled? Really?" Ziva asked Tony as they sat eating the pie that Senior had bought.

They had found themselves on the topic of how Tony got himself kicked out of six boarding schools.

Tony nodded. "Every time." He told them.

Senior laughed. "I still don't understand why. He didn't do any damage to the property."

Tony shook his head. "I mean the sprinklers went off, but they turned them off pretty quick."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "How did you even get your hands on firecrackers at fourteen?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "I had people."

Ziva laughed. "What people did you have when you were fourteen Tony?" She asked.

"I never reveal my sources." Tony told her.

Ziva shook her head. "Ridiculous." She laughed.

Senior set his plate down with the other two on the coffee table and sat back in his chair.

"Can you grab the big plates and bring them into the kitchen?" Ziva asked Tony as she stood up and collected the smaller plates that the pie had been served on.

Tony nodded and grabbed the dinner plates before following Ziva into the kitchen.

He put the dishes down on the counter and turned to walk out. Ziva reached out and caught his hand before he could leave.

Tony turned around. "What's up?" He asked.

Ziva's eyes examined Tony's face for any signs of discomfort.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He told her.

Ziva nodded slowly and released Tony. She turned to the fridge to grab the last few bottles of beer that she had.

She uncapped them and handed one to Tony and took one out to Senior.

"So, you had the day off to move or something today?" Senior asked as Tony sat down.

He looked over at Ziva, reaching for her hand silently.

"What's wrong son?" Senior asked. He set his beer bottle down on the table and leaned forward, curious.

Tony turned back to look at him. "I, um, I haven't been working for the past few months." He told his father quietly.

"Why not? Is everything alright? Are you sick?" Senior questioned.

Tony looked down at his hands, staying silent. Ziva squeezed his hand gently and slid closer to him on the couch.

"You don't have to." She whispered so only he could hear as she kissed his cheek.

Tony nodded. "I was raped." He mumbled.

Senior sat quietly for a moment, stunned. He looked up at Ziva, who gave him an intense look that clearly said, _'don't fuck it up.'_

"Look at me, Anthony." Senior said in a much gentler voice than Ziva was expecting.

Tony's eyes lifted to meet his father's slowly.

"Are you alright?" Senior asked. "Did they catch whoever did it?"

Tony nodded. "I'm okay. And they're in prison, they're still waiting for a sentencing hearing." He told his father.

"Good." Senior said. "You could have called me. I would have been here in two hours." He told Tony.

Tony nodded silently, looking away from him.

Ziva kissed Tony's cheek softly. "I am going to go wash the dishes." She told them. She squeezed Tony's hand once more and walked into the kitchen, giving father and son a bit of time to talk.

Senior stood from his chair and moved to sit on the couch beside Tony. He reached out, resting his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"I'm glad you're alright son." Senior told him honestly.

Tony's eyes flicked up to meet his father's momentarily.

Senior smiled. "I love you, Anthony. You know that right?" He asked.

Tony nodded. "I love you too dad."

"Are you going to go back to work?" Senior asked curiously.

Tony nodded. "My doctor told me I could go back to desk duty, I had appointments for psych evaluations yesterday and today."

Senior nodded. "That's good. Hopefully you'll be back soon then." She said.

Tony nodded. "Hopefully."

"How long has it been?" Senior asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "Just over two months, it happened August twenty first." Tony told him.

"That's not that long ago junior, I don't know…" Senior said.

Tony shook his head. "I want to go back. I think I'm ready. And if I'm not I can always wait a bit longer." He said.

Senior nodded. "You're right.. so when will you know if you passed your evaluations?" He asked.

Tony shrugged. "Whenever they call me and tell me."

"You don't have to go to any more appointments for them though, right?" Senior asked.

Tony shook his head. "Nope, I'm done.. now I just wait."

"We can get together tomorrow if you want, I'm only planning to be here a few days." Senior said.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, sure, just call and let me know."

Senior nodded. "Alright." He said as he stood up. He turned toward the kitchen door. "Do you need any help in there Ziva?" He called.

Ziva turned the water off and walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. "No, I am finished." She told him.

Senior smiled. "I'm gonna head out, but I'll definitely have to see you again before I leave." He told Ziva, opening his arms to her.

Ziva accepted his hug and returned it. "How long are you here for?" She asked.

"I fly out on the fifth." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. You know the way back to your hotel from here, yes?" She asked.

Senior smiled. "GPS is a magical thing."

Ziva nodded. "Right."

Tony walked up to stand beside her, and Senior held his arms open for his son. Tony hugged him tightly.

"See ya later." Tony said.

Senior nodded. "I'll call." He said as he pulled his jacket on.

XXXXX

"Are you alright?" Ziva asked Tony as he climbed into the bed.

Tony turned off the lamp on his bedside table and laid down beside Ziva. She wrapped her arms around him.

"Yeah, I think so… I wasn't expecting him to react like that." He told Ziva honestly.

Ziva nodded. "That is understandable. He is a very… traditional is the wrong word, but… traditional." She said.

Tony nodded. "He lived in the time where women were victims and men weren't." He clarified.

Ziva nodded. "Exactly."

"I wonder why he's here." Tony said. "There aren't really many reasons why he comes to visit me."

"Well what are some of the reasons he's visited in the past?" Ziva asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "He's in trouble." He said.

Ziva shook her head. "We would know by now if he was… he's not a subtle man." She said.

Tony nodded. "That's a fair point. He's getting married. Or divorced, I never know."

"Wouldn't he have brought her with him?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Right, not subtle." He said, laughing lightly. "Maybe he's sick?" He asked.

"I think he would have told you… well maybe not on the first day of his visit… it is possible." Ziva said.

Tony sighed, starting to get worried.

Ziva brought up her hand to run through Tony's hair. She saw where his mind was taking him.

"Do not panic until you are given a reason to love." She told him quietly. "There is another possibility you haven't considered."

Tony looked up at her. "What?"

Ziva kissed his forehead softly. "He is getting older, maybe he just wants to spend time with his only son."

Tony thought for a moment. "You're right." He told Ziva. "I never even thought about that."


	2. Chapter 2

_Here's chapter two! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!_

 _ **Two**_

Tony and Ziva woke up the next morning to Tony's cell phone ringing loudly on the bedside table. He reached over and picked it up, hitting talk and pressing the speaker to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked, groggy.

" _Junior!"_ Ziva heard Senior's voice from the other side of the bed.

" _What are your plans for the day?"_ Senior asked.

Tony shrugged. "Not much of anything, why what's up?" He asked.

" _I was wondering if you wanted to meet me at the hotel for breakfast."_ Senior told him.

Tony looked over at the clock; 8:45. Of course his father would call before nine.

"Yeah, sure. What time?" He asked.

Senior thought for a moment. _"Does ten work?"_

Tony nodded. "Yeah, ten's good. I'll meet you in the lobby."

Senior smiled. _"Alright, see you then son."_ He said before he hung up the phone.

Ziva looked over at Tony when he put his phone down on the table.

"What was that about?" She asked.

"He wants me to meet him at his hotel for breakfast at ten." Tony told her.

Ziva smiled. "That is good, isn't it?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe he'll tell my why he's here."

Ziva nodded. "Well if you like, I can drop you off and go get caught up on some paperwork?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Alright. Shower?" He asked.

Ziva sniffed and turned up her nose playfully. "You need one." She joked.

Tony laughed. "You're never gonna get tired of that joke are you?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Probably not."

Tony sat up and pulled Ziva with him. He wrapped one arm around her back and hooked the other under her legs and stood up. Ziva laughed and laid her head on his shoulder as he walked toward the bathroom with her in his arms.

As much as she would deny it to anyone who accused her, she loved it when Tony did things like that with her, even if it was unnecessary. She enjoyed the closeness in simple things that they shared. She hadn't ever had that in a relationship before.

Tony set her down on the counter and reached into the shower to turn the water on and adjust it.

He stood in front of Ziva, resting his hands on her hips. He leaned in to kiss her, and Ziva's hands came up to wrap around his shoulders, pulling him to her.

Tony pulled away a moment later, smiling brightly.

"Come on, water should be warm by now." He said.

Ziva slid off the counter and stepped into the shower behind Tony.

XXXXX

Ziva pulled up to the sidewalk outside the Adams House Hotel and put the car in park. Tony leaned over to kiss her quickly.

"I'll see you later." Tony said.

Ziva nodded. "I am just going to go in and do paperwork. Call if you need me to pick you up." She told him.

Tony nodded and his right hand reached for the door handle. He pushed the door open and stepped out onto the busy sidewalk.

"Love you." He called through the open door.

Ziva smiled. "Love you too." She said before he closed the door.

She watched to make sure he got into the hotel before putting the car in drive and pulling away from the sidewalk.

Tony walked out of the revolving door and stood to the side. He took a deep breath, trying to centre himself as he scanned the crowd for his father. He saw Senior at the concierge desk, talking to another man, it looked like they knew each other well, as they were still laughing about something when Tony tapped his father on the shoulder.

Senior turned around. "Junior! You're just in time, let me introduce you to an old friend." Senior boasted as he moved to stand beside Tony. "This is Russell Archer, we met in Morocco, in what was it? Sixty-four? Sixty-five, maybe? Anyway, Arch, this is my son, Anthony Junior."

Archer held his hand out to Tony. "Your father has told me many good things." He said with a thick French accent, shaking Tony's hand.

Tony smiled. "Nice to meet you." He said.

"Here's my number Arch," Senior handed the man a piece of paper. "Call me later and we'll get together, we should get going."

Archer nodded. "Of course, I should be on my way as well." He said as he pulled his jacket on.

Senior and Archer said their goodbyes, and a minute later, Senior was leading Tony through the restaurant to his reserved table.

"He's a good guy." Senior said as they sat down. "Saved my ass more than a few times."

Tony nodded. "He seems nice." Was all he could think to say.

Senior nodded. "Alright, you've gotta be wondering why in hell I'm here, right?" He asked.

Tony nodded again. "And why you didn't call to let me know you were coming." He said.

"I've been thinking about buying a house in D.C." Senior told Tony.

Tony was stunned. "What?" He asked. "Why?"

Senior shrugged. "I wanted to be able to see you more. I thought it might be easier if I had an actual place to stay in that didn't cost four hundred a night."

Tony nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"I won't buy here if you don't want me to though. I don't want to crowd you." Senior backtracked.

Tony shook his head. "No, dad, I want you here." He told him. "I think I'd like it."

Senior smiled. "That was kind of the reason I wanted you to meet me today. I've got a few appointments set up to look at some houses, I was hoping you would go with me." He told Tony.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, sure. That sounds great." He said.

He was happy that his father would consider moving closer to him. Even if he said he didn't care about a relationship with him, he did want one.

Tony was snapped out of his thoughts when a waiter put a menu down in front of him.

"I will give you a few minutes." The waiter said before he turned on his heel and walked toward another table.

Tony opened the menu and flipped through the pages quickly. He settled on Belgian waffles almost immediately and closed his menu. He watched Senior read through the menu for a few minutes before he too closed the book.

"So, you and Ziva?" Senior said, looking up at Tony.

Tony nodded. "Yeah." He said simply. He wasn't sure what else to say.

"You love her." Senior said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Tony nodded once again. "I do. More than anything else." He told his father honestly.

"So how long have you two really been together? Why haven't you popped the question? It seems like you two have been together for years, you just didn't tell anyone." Senior said.

Tony shook his head. "No, no, it's only been since August, after I was attacked… there wasn't anything, well nothing that was acted on until then." He said. "I don't really know how we got so close. It's just always been that way."

Senior smiled. "I'm glad you found someone son. She's a good one." He said.

Tony nodded. "I know. And I want to hold onto her for as long as she'll let me." He told Senior.

"I felt the same way about your mother." Senior said. "God she was way too good for me though." He laughed.

Tony smiled. "You never talk about mom." He said.

Senior shrugged. "You never ask me to."

Tony nodded. "Okay, that's fair."

Their conversation was interrupted a moment later by the waiter coming over to take their order.

XXXXX

Ziva closed the file she had been staring at for the last twenty minutes with a huff. She slid it to the side and rested her elbows on top of her desk, her fingers rubbing at her temples.

She was surprised when she opened her eyes and a tall, dark-skinned woman was staring down at her.

"Can I help you?" Ziva asked.

The woman nodded. "You're agent Ziva David, correct?" She asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes." She said shortly.

"I'm Doctor Kalela Oliver, I'm the Operational Psychologist overseeing agent DiNozzo's psychological evaluations. I would like to speak to you for a moment, if you've got the time." She asked.

Ziva nodded and pushed her chair away from her desk so she could stand.

"Of course. Lead the way." Ziva said.

Doctor Oliver turned and walked out of the squad room, toward the stairs that would take them to the conference room.

Ziva shut the door behind her and sat down across from Doctor Oliver at the table.

Doctor Oliver opened her notepad and picked up her pen.

"So, agent DiNozzo has given me permission to ask you a few questions about his recovery and mental health." She explained.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. I will try to help as much as I can." She said.

"I understand that you are in a romantic relationship with agent DiNozzo, is that correct?" Doctor Oliver asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, I am."

"And how is that going?" Doctor Oliver asked.

Ziva smiled and she leaned back in her chair slightly. "It is good. We are both very happy." She said.

Doctor Oliver smiled. "That's good. Would you say you're the person who knows the most about him?" She asked.

Ziva nodded slowly. "I would say so, yes."

"Do you think he is ready for restricted duty?" Doctor Oliver asked.

"What do you mean?" Ziva asked.

"How is his recovery going, in your opinion? What have you noticed?"

Ziva thought for a moment. "He has made incredible progress. At first he was terrified, he couldn't think about anything but what had happened to him." She said.

"And now?" Doctor Oliver asked.

"I believe that he would have no problems on desk duty." Ziva told her confidently.

"And I've been told he's been seeing a therapist." Doctor Oliver said.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, twice a week. It has helped him."

Doctor Oliver nodded. "Would you be worried about his mental health if he were to be placed on restricted duty?" She asked.

Ziva shook her head. "No. Tony is one of the best agents I have ever known, and no, I am not just saying that because we are together. I would not be seriously concerned at all."

Doctor Oliver nodded. "Thank you for your honesty, agent David. I appreciate it." She said.

Ziva nodded and stood up from the table. "Thank you." She said before she walked out of the room.

XXXXX

"Why do you think you need such a big house dad?" Tony asked as they pulled up at the fourth house of the day. "Everything we've looked at has been three bedrooms or more."

Senior closed the car door and led Tony toward the house, where the real estate agent was standing waiting for them.

"Well I figured that I could have extra room for you, and now Ziva, to come stay for a few days if you wanted to, and hey, maybe even some grandkids one day… I'm not getting any younger here, Junior." Senior said as they walked up the front path.

"Grandkids are definitely a long way away dad. A long, long way away." Tony told him.

"Whatever you say son, but I want one before I'm dead." Senior said. "You must be Jim." He said, holding his hand out to the real estate agent standing by the front door.

He nodded and shook Senior's hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, mister DiNozzo."

"Call me Anthony." Senior said happily.

Jim nodded. "Alright, let's take a look inside, shall we?"

Senior nodded and stepped back to stand beside Tony, waiting patiently for the door to be unlocked.

Jim pushed the door open and led the two men inside.

"As you can see here, we have a nice open concept kitchen-living room area. The kitchen includes a walk-in pantry and marble counter tops. All of the floors are hardwood, oak if I'm not mistaken, and brand new, actually." Jim said as he led them toward the staircase.

"Upstairs is the master suite, another bedroom, and a bathroom attached to each. And downstairs you have two more bedrooms, a recreational space, laundry room, and a shared bathroom." Jim said.

"What about the bathrooms on the main floor?" Tony asked.

Jim nodded. "Of course, right through here." He told Tony as they walked past the stairs on the right wall. He pointed at a door leading off the living room. "Feel free to have a look around, gentlemen, and I'll be here if you have any questions."

Senior turned around to look at Tony. "Upstairs first?" He asked.

Tony nodded and followed his father up the stairs.

They stepped through the door of the master bedroom and were shocked at its size.

"Who needs this much space in the bedroom?" Tony asked quietly.

Senior laughed. "Some people have beds that take up more than five feet of space Junior." He jabbed.

Tony laughed. "It came with the place. And I liked my bed."

Senior nodded. "Whatever you say." He said as he opened the door to the en-suite bathroom. "Good God come look at the bath tub."

Tony stepped into the bathroom behind Senior. "Looks more like a swimming pool." Tony said. "Wait, how much are they asking for this house?"

Senior shrugged. "Nine hundred thousand I think."

"Where in hell are you gonna get nine hundred thousand dollars from?" Tony asked.

"Don't worry about it Junior. I'm not really liking this one anyway." Senior said quietly.

Tony nodded unsurely. "Let's go check out the rest of it." Tony said, walking out of the bathroom.

XXXXX

Ziva looked up from her laptop when she heard Tony sliding his key into the door.

Tony pushed the door open a second later and entered the apartment, kicking his shoes off. He hung up his keys and peeled his jacket off.

"Hey you." Tony said, walking toward Ziva.

Ziva closed her laptop and set it down on the coffee table. Tony sat down beside her on the couch. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, and he leaned into her.

"How was your day?" Ziva asked.

"Filled with hardwood and marble." He told her.

Ziva looked confused. "What?" She asked.

Tony chuckled. "Senior wants to buy a house so he can spend more time here."

Ziva smiled. "That is good, isn't it?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "Yeah, I think so."

"Do you want him here that much?" Ziva asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "Yeah." He told her. "You should've seen the places we went to look at. They were huge." Tony told her.

"Why does he want a big place?" Ziva asked.

Tony shook his head. "Something about having space for us to come and visit and having space for grandkids."

Ziva sighed. "Oh." She said quietly.

Tony wrapped his arm around her. "I know." He said softly. He kissed her forehead softly.

Ziva leaned into him, resting her head on his chest silently.

"You okay?" Tony asked gently.

Ziva shrugged. "I suppose."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Tony asked.

"What is there to talk about?" Ziva asked. "I probably can't get pregnant, which means to grandchildren. That is all there is to it."

Tony rubbed her back gently. "There are other ways to have kids Zi." He reminded her.

Ziva nodded. "I know… I don't even think they would approve me for adoption… I don't make enough money, I have a dangerous job…" She trailed off.

"You know-"

Ziva cut him off. "Can we please talk about something else?" She asked softly, looking up at him.

Tony nodded when he saw the tears in her eyes. "It'll work out." He said simply.

Ziva nodded. "I know." She said quietly.

Tony hugged her tightly against himself. "Come on, let's grab something to eat. There's still pie left."

Ziva laughed lightly. "Alright."


	3. Chapter 3

_I've come to realize that I don't really like having a set schedule for posting. I probably won't go back to every two or three days like before, but I'll definitely be posting more than once a week. Anyway, here's chapter three, enjoy and tell me what you think!_

 _ **Three**_

By Thursday morning the feeling of waking up to a cell phone ringing had become familiar.

Ziva reached to grab the phone off the nightstand and hit talk.

"Hello?" She asked.

" _Oh, I must have the wrong number, I was looking for Anthony DiNozzo."_ A female voice responded.

Ziva shook her head, even know she knew the woman couldn't see her. "No, no, he's right here." Ziva said.

She shook Tony, who had seemingly fallen back to sleep. He groaned and opened his eyes.

"Phone." Ziva told him.

Tony took the phone from her and pressed it against his ear.

"Hello?" He grumbled.

" _Agent DiNozzo, it's Doctor Oliver, how are you this morning?"_

"Fine, you?" Tony asked shortly.

" _I'm alright thanks, anyway, I was just calling to let you know that you've passed all of your psychological evaluations, and you've been cleared for restricted duty starting on November ninth."_ Doctor Oliver said.

Tony looked up at Ziva. He was a bit surprised.

"Alright, thank you." He said simply.

Doctor Oliver nodded. _"Good luck agent DiNozzo."_ She said before hanging up the phone.

"What was that?" Ziva asked curiously.

"I can go back to work next Tuesday." Tony told her as he dropped the phone back on the table.

Ziva laid back down beside him. "That's good, isn't it? That's what you wanted."

Tony nodded. "Yeah… I just wasn't expecting it that fast." He told her.

Ziva wrapped her arm around him. "I'm sure everyone would understand if you wanted to take a few more days." She said.

Tony shrugged. "I don't really want to though. I'm going crazy just sitting here." He said. "I mean, I love spending time with you, but there's only so many movies you can watch."

Ziva laughed. "I know what you mean. It does get rather… boring, after a while." She agreed.

Tony rolled onto his side and rested on his elbow, looking down at Ziva.

"Breakfast?" He asked.

Ziva smiled up at him. "You want me to cook, yes?" She asked.

Tony smiled. "I mean we could always have something delivered."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Have you seriously not had enough pancakes in the last two months?" She asked.

Tony chuckled. "You can never have too many pancakes."

"The café knows my phone number now Tony! And my name!" Ziva told him, laughing as she reached for her phone.

"Then they know what I like." Tony said, smiling brightly.

He sat up and leaned back against the headboard as he watched Ziva order the food.

"Fifteen minutes." Ziva said as she hung up.

She put her phone back on the bedside table. Tony reached out and wrapped his arms around her to pull her back to sit beside him. Ziva tossed her arm over his torso and rested her head on his chest comfortably.

"Maybe we should just stay in bed all day." Tony suggested.

Ziva laughed. "So you can complain about your stiff back all day tomorrow?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "Fair point." He agreed. "Alright, what do you say we have breakfast, and go take a nice long bath?"

Ziva looked up at him. "I wouldn't object to that." She said.

Tony smiled. "Then we should put clothes on before the delivery guy gets here."

"I suppose." Ziva groaned as she reached above her head, stretching.

Tony watched as Ziva stood up from her side of the bed and walked toward the dresser. She opened the drawers, rooting through them for a pair of pants and some sort of shirt to throw on until they were done with their food.

Ziva stood straight up and turned around, it was like she could feel Tony's eyes on her.

She smirked. "Can I help you with something?" She teased.

Tony smiled and shook his head no. "Just admiring the view." He told her. "It's beautiful."

Ziva smiled a bit and she felt her cheeks heat up, blushing at the compliment, but she really didn't know what to say. She still wasn't used to receiving compliments like that. At least not from anyone whose opinion actually mattered to her.

Tony stood and walked toward her, smiling brightly. He stopped in front of her and his hand came up to cup her cheek.

"I mean it. I always do." He reminded her.

Ziva nodded and wrapped her arms around Tony's neck, pressing her lips to his briefly.

"I know you do." She told him. She knew he believed what he was saying, but she didn't feel quite there yet. It was hard to feel beautiful when she looked in the mirror and saw her marred skin.

Ziva rested her head on Tony's chest, relaxing into her boyfriend as his hands roamed her back gently.

"We really should put clothes on." Ziva said after a few moments.

Tony laughed. "Easy for you to say miss David, you're the one with the dresser. I have to dig through laundry baskets."

Ziva chuckled and lifted her head off his chest to look up at him.

"That wouldn't have been a problem if you had your own dresser." She told him.

Tony scoffed playfully. "Well excuse me, I'm sorry I didn't just jump out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine shoot." He said with a laugh.

This made Ziva laugh harder. "It would have done you some good." She said as she stepped away from him. She pointed him toward the laundry baskets in the corner of the room that held his clothes. "Go dig." She shooed, waving her hand at him.

Tony raised his hand in a playful salute. "Aye aye captain." He said before turning to dig through his own clothes.

Ziva smiled happily as she watched him. He was definitely getting more comfortable. She especially liked that he was getting comfortable in a place that he would always come back to, and where she would always be.

She pulled a pair of sweatpants and a tank top out of her dresser and pulled them on. She had actually enjoyed the freedom to stay in her sleeping clothes all day.

"And not a moment too soon." Tony turned to Ziva when he heard a knock on the door.

"I will get it." Ziva told him.

"Grab my wallet." Tony said.

"Alright." Ziva said. She ran her hand over his back as she walked out of the room and down the hallway to grab the money out of his wallet.

Tony grabbed the first pair of boxers he saw and pulled them on. He waited until he heard the door close before he exited the bedroom and joined Ziva in the living room.

Ziva pulled the food out of the bag and set it out on the coffee table, along with the plastic cutlery they had been provided.

Tony sat down on the couch beside her and reached out for the plastic platter with pancakes and bacon on it and handed Ziva her baconless platter.

"Toda." Ziva said as she took it from him.

Tony smiled. He kind of loved it when she did that, even if it was something simple. She would slip into Hebrew when she wasn't paying attention to what she was saying.

They dug into their food, eating in silence for a few minutes before Ziva spoke.

"I really should get back into running." She said.

Tony looked up at her. "Why did you stop?" He asked.

Ziva shrugged. "It was after Somalia, I was in too much pain for a long time, and then I only did what as required to be considered a bit above agency standards." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I'll run with you if you want." He suggested.

Ziva smiled. "Are you sure you could keep up?" She joked.

Tony laughed lightly. "I don't know, it's been a while since I went for a nice slow jog." He tossed back at her.

This made Ziva laugh. "The last time I went on a slow jog was when I was nine." She told him.

Tony nodded as he cut the last few pieces of his pancakes. "I don't doubt that."

Ziva smiled and handed Tony her empty platter.

Tony stood and took everything that was left from their breakfast – mostly just garbage and unused syrup – to the kitchen to throw out as Ziva leaned back against the back of the couch, relaxing.

Tony walked into the living room a moment later.

"How about that-" He was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing in the bedroom.

He walked down the hall quickly to retrieve it. He hit talk and held it up to his ear.

"Dad?" He asked.

" _Morning son! How's your day so far?"_ Senior asked.

Tony shrugged. "Fine, how's yours?" He asked as he walked back into the living room.

" _Great, I was actually calling to see if you and Ziva wanted to see the house I chose."_ Senior said.

Tony sat down beside Ziva. "I can ask." He told his father.

Senior nodded silently, waiting.

Tony pulled the phone away from his ear and covered the microphone with his hand.

"Senior wants to know if we want to go see the house he chose." Tony told Ziva.

Ziva smiled. "Of course, I would love to see it." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Alright." He said. He put the phone back up to his ear. "I've still got the list of the houses that we saw yesterday, which one is it?" He asked.

" _Oh, no, it's not on the list Junior."_ Senior said.

"How is it not on the list?" Tony asked.

" _Long story. Basically, I found it and I bought it."_

Tony rolled his eyes as Senior gave him the address. Of course he found it and bought it.

"Alright, we'll meet you there in about an hour." Tony told his father.

Senior smiled. _"I'll be there."_

Tony hung up the phone and set it down on the coffee table.

"Apparently it isn't one of the houses we looked at yesterday." Tony told Ziva.

Ziva looked up at him. "It cannot be that bad." She said.

Tony gave her a pointed look.

Ziva nodded. "Okay, yes I see your point but still, it is just a house Tony." She said.

Tony nodded. "A house that we have to be at in an hour." He reminded her as he looked down at his own state of undress.

Ziva laughed lightly. "You need clothes." She told him

Tony nodded in agreement. "And so do you." He told her as he stood up. He held out his hands for her to take and he pulled her to her feet.

XXXXX

"It looks nice." Ziva said as she put her car in park at the address Senior had given Tony.

It did look nice. It was light brown brick, with an attached two-car garage, red shutters on the windows and at least three floors, including the basement. It looked like a nice family home.

Tony eyed it suspiciously. "It looks expensive." He said.

"There he is." Ziva said as she watched Senior pull into the driveway behind them.

Tony nodded. "Alright, let's go." He said, reaching for the door handle.

They stepped out of the car to greet Senior.

Senior shut his door and walked toward Tony and Ziva, hugging them both warmly.

"So, what do you think?" Senior asked.

Ziva smiled. "It's beautiful." She told him honestly.

"Come on, let's go inside." Senior suggested.

"Wait what?" Tony asked. "You have the keys already?"

Senior nodded. "Archer gave them to me last night. It's his house, he's letting me buy it. Offered me a great deal for it."

"How great?" Tony asked.

"Two hundred thousand instead of six." Senior told him as he unlocked the front door.

Inside, the house was empty, ready for someone to move into it.

To the right of the front door was a small carpeted sitting area, with a curved window seat looking over the front yard. The far wall of the sitting room opened to what was assumed to be a small formal dining room, with a door that led to the kitchen.

Ziva was the first one to step into the kitchen, and she let out an audible gasp as she looked around. Hardwood floors and cherry cabinets gave the room a sophisticated elegance, and the island in the middle gave it practicality.

"I would kill for this kitchen." Ziva told Tony and Senior.

Senior laughed. "Come use it any time you want." He told her.

The house was very open-concept. The kitchen and living room were divided by little more than a three-foot wall, and a Greek-style pillar.

"Let's go check out upstairs." Tony suggested.

He led them down the hall way separating the dining room and the living room and entrance to the curved staircase by the door.

They found the master suite first, which included two walk-in closets, a bay window, and an en-suite bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, and a double shower.

"Four bedrooms, four bathrooms, about twenty-five hundred square feet in total." Senior said as they peeked into one of the smaller bedrooms.

"This is actually pretty nice dad." Tony admitted.

"There's even a bar in the basement." Senior told them. "Come check it out."

Tony and Ziva followed Senior back down the stairs to the main floor, and then through a door beside the stairs, leading to the basement.

"That over there is the bedroom I was thinking you two could have if you ever decide to stay. It's about three quarters the size of the master. Plenty of room, with its own bathroom." Senior said.

Ziva smiled brightly as she reached to hold Tony's hand. "I love it." She announced.

Senior smiled. "In that case, would you mind helping me pick out some furniture? My taste is awful."

Ziva laughed. "Mine probably isn't much better. Tony's however, is brilliant." She told him.

Senior looked at Tony. "Whad'ya say Junior?" He asked. "Feel like going furniture shopping with your old man?"

Tony smiled. "Sure, why not. It can't hurt." Tony said. "But you have to come." He said, turning to Ziva.

Ziva was confused. "Why?" She asked.

"Maybe my style will rub off on you." He said, laughing lightly.

Ziva rolled her eyes playfully. "Bite me." She laughed.

XXXXX

"No, dad, you cannot have a couch that's the same color your walls are gonna be!" Tony exclaimed, eyes wide as he looked at his father.

"Why not? It matches! I thought it was supposed to match!" Senior insisted.

Ziva bit back a laugh as Tony rested his head in his hand.

"Okay, you have two options. You want to paint the living room navy blue, right?" He asked, holding up a paint sample.

Senior nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright, option number one, choose a single wall to be navy blue and leave the rest white, and get a navy couch and chairs. Option number two, paint the entire room navy blue, and get a lighter colored couch and chairs." Tony explained.

Senior thought for a moment. "I think I'll take the lighter furniture." He said.

Tony nodded. "Alright, now go find a set that you like." Tony instructed.

Senior nodded. "Alright." He said before turning to walk down the long isle of couches.

"This is gonna be a long day." Tony told Ziva as they followed Senior.

Ziva reached out to take his hand, tangling her fingers among his. "Yes, it is."

"We're only on the first room." Tony groaned.

Ziva laughed lightly. "It'll go by fast, all the bedrooms really need is a bed, that is easy, and dressers, maybe a book shelf or two, and that's it." She told him.

"How about this one?" Senior asked, pointing toward a sea-foam green sectional, along with three chairs.

Tony and Ziva stopped beside him to look over the furniture.

"See, that's nice." Tony said.

He took the paint sample card out of his pocket and pressed it against the fabric of the couch.

"See what I mean? You want complimentary, not matching. You're not dressing a set of twins." Tony said, looking up at Senior.

"Alright." Senior said, writing down the product number so he could order it after they had found everything they needed. "Where to next?" He asked.

"What size beds are you getting for the bedrooms?" Tony asked.

"King for the master, queen for the rest, I've already got the mattresses ordered." Senior said.

Tony nodded. "Alright, one less thing to worry about. Let's just look at getting dressers for now and we can always come back once we know what we actually need in the house."

"Bedroom furniture is that way." Ziva said as she pointed out a sign hanging from the ceiling.

XXXXX

Three and a half hours later, Tony, Ziva, and Senior were standing in the parking lot between their cars.

"What time does your plane leave?" Tony asked.

"Five in the morning." Senior told him.

Tony grimaced. "Why in hell would you choose the early flight?"

"When I booked it, they asked me if I wanted to return on the five o'clock flight. I didn't realize they meant five a.m." Senior said. "And I don't feel like paying the hundred dollars to change it."

Tony nodded. "Lucky you then."

Senior chuckled. "Yeah, feelin lucky alright. Anyway, you two should get out of here, I've gotta go pack and I'm gonna try to get to sleep early so I'll have enough energy to drag myself onto the place."

"We'll see you when you come back to sign the papers." Ziva said, hugging Senior warmly.

Senior smiled. "You absolutely will." He told her.

He kissed both her cheeks before releasing her and walking over to his son.

He opened his arms to Tony and Tony hugged him tightly. "I love you son." Senior reminded him.

Tony nodded. "I know dad. I love you too."

Senior pulled out of the hug and started to walk around his car.

"See ya later." The elder DiNozzo called as he got into the driver's seat.

Tony and Ziva waved as her pulled away from them. Ziva turned around to look at Tony.

"Home?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Please." She said with a small laugh. "I don't think I can take any more shopping."

XXXXX

"You know, you did something kind of amazing today." Ziva told Tony as they were getting ready for bed that night.

"Huh?" Tony asked as he pulled back the covers on his side of the bed.

Ziva nodded. "You went and spent three hours in a crowded furniture store. And you were perfectly fine." She reminded him.

Tony thought for a moment. "I did, didn't I?"

Ziva switched off the lamp on the bedside table and settled down next to Tony, wrapping her arms around him as he laid his head on her chest.

Ziva kissed his forehead. "Yes, you did. I am proud of you." She told him.

Tony smiled. "Me too."

Tony lifted his head high enough to kiss Ziva softly.

"Goodnight." He said as he pulled away.

Ziva smiled. "Goodnight Tony. I love you."

She felt Tony smile against her chest. "I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4

_I actually wasn't planning on posting this for another few days, but I thought I'd be nice on Valentine's Day - even though it is definitely not my favourite holiday. I like the day after Valentine's day when it 75% off chocolate. Anyway, here's chapter four! Let me know what you think!_

 _ **Four**_

"I'll be here." Ziva reminded Tony as he stood from his chair in Paige's waiting room.

Tony smiled back at her before he followed Paige into her office. He sat down in his usual chair and waited patiently for Paige to get situated.

"So how have you been Tony? It's been, what, a week since I saw you last? I'm sorry about having to cancel Monday, my daughter was sick." Paige explained.

Tony nodded. "That's alright. Family first." He told her. "I've been okay, no really big changes."

"How have your nightmares been?" Paige asked.

Tony shrugged. "Pretty much the same, maybe a few less in the last week." He said.

"Well that's good at least, you're getting a bit more sleep then?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, probably only about an extra hour though."

"An hour is better than ten minutes." Paige reminded him.

Tony nodded. "I was cleared for desk duty. I'm going back tomorrow." He told her.

Paige nodded. "I know, the operational psychologist called me. She wanted to know if I was worried about your mental state while under stress." She told him.

He had given her permission to discuss his progress with NCIS.

Tony laughed lightly. "And you told them I'm a ticking time bomb?" He joked.

Paige laughed. "Well not quite." She told him. "But I did tell them that you are doing very well, and I'm not worried about desk duty. I don't want you in the field quite yet though."

Tony nodded. "I know I'm not ready for that." He assured her. "I just want to do something other than watch movies all day. I miss working."

"That's good." Paige said, scribbling notes on her notepad. "Anything else interesting happen?" She asked curiously.

Tony shrugged. "My dad is buying a house here." He told her.

"How do you feel about that?" Paige asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "Confused." He told her honestly.

Paige nodded. "Okay. Why?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "It's not that I don't want him here, I do. I want to spend more time with him, and get to know him, but at the same time, all he's done since I was about twelve just… he comes to me when he gets himself into trouble. And I always get him out of it." He told her.

"And you're worried that if he's here and close to you he's going to ask you to get him out of things more often?" Paige asked.

Tony nodded. "I think so." He said. "I just want him to be my dad for a while, ya know? He was actually pretty good this time though."

"Good how?" Paige asked.

"I told him what happened to me." Tony said.

Paige was surprised. "You did?" She asked. "What did he say?"

"That he loves me. And that I could have called him." Tony said.

Paige smiled. "That's great Tony. I'm glad he's supportive."

Tony nodded.

"And what about Ziva? Does he like her?" Paige asked.

Tony laughed. "God I think if we weren't in a relationship he'd flirt so hard he'd have a heart attack."

Paige chuckled. "Alright, so he likes her well enough."

Tony nodded. "Definitely."

"That's good, I'm glad he wants to have a relationship with you." Paige told him.

"Me too." Tony agreed.

"When was the last time you had a panic attack?" Paige asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "I'm not really sure… maybe the day before I testified." He told her.

Paige nodded. "That's great. Are you still worried about them like you were before, or has your anxiety calmed down a bit?"

"It's actually been pretty good. If Ziva and I are the only ones in the apartment, she can come up behind me and touch me and I'm totally fine." Tony said.

Paige nodded. "What about if you're not the only ones at home?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "It changes it a bit because I'm never sure who's behind me. Like it's probably Ziva, but I don't know one-hundred percent, so I jump." He told her.

"That makes sense. Do you want to talk about how you handle panic attacks at work?" Paige asked.

Tony shrugged. "I guess we probably should, just in case. I just don't want it to happen."

"What scares you about it?" Paige asked.

Tony sighed. "I guess just that I'm supposed to be cleared, and if I have a panic attack, it sets me back, I guess, if that made sense."

Paige nodded. "No, it made perfect sense. You don't want to be looked at differently, or like you're not ready to be there."

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

"Would it be alright if I brought Ziva in for a minute?" Paige asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Paige put her pen down on her desk and walked across the small office to pull the door open.

"Can you come in here for a minute, Ziva?" She asked.

Tony heard Ziva's book snap shut and her footsteps coming toward the door.

"Is everything alright?" She asked as she stepped into the office.

Paige nodded. "Everything is fine, we were just gonna talk about coping with panic attacks and anxiety at work, if it pops up." She told Ziva.

Ziva let out a small sigh of relief. "Alright." She said. She sat down in the extra chair that was in the room and waited for Paige.

"So, the last time we talked about this, you told me that Ziva was mostly what kept you calm, right?" Paige asked Tony.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Alright. That is really great, and having someone there who knows what's happening, and how to help is fantastic, but you also need to be able to kind of self-soothe sometimes." Paige said.

"Yeah, I know… I just, I don't know, I can't think straight, and then I start to panic even more because I'm panicking." Tony told her.

Paige nodded. "That's perfectly normal." She stated. "And keeping yourself calm or calming yourself down takes a lot of practice."

Tony nodded. "Well I'm not gonna have a lot of time to practice between now and tomorrow."

"Have you noticed anything that triggers your anxiety?" Paige asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "I'm not really sure. It seems like it just happens sometimes."

Paige turned to look at Ziva. "Have you noticed anything?" She asked.

Ziva nodded. "Crowds are something he tends to avoid, although we did spend a few hours in a fairly busy furniture store yesterday and he was alright." She told Paige. "And people coming up behind him, more often than not it triggers a flashback, not a panic attack, but sometimes it can be difficult to bring him out of it."

Paige scribbled notes on her notepad quickly as Ziva spoke.

"When you have a flashback, what breaks through to you?" Paige asked Tony.

"Silence, and hearing Ziva's voice. If there isn't any music playing I realize that I'm not naked behind a bar." Tony said.

Paige nodded. "Alright, that's good. How often do the flashbacks happen?"

Tony looked over at Ziva and shrugged.

"They really aren't that common. I have only seen three or four after a nightmare." Ziva told them.

Paige smiled a bit. "That's great. I still kind of want you both to be prepared, just in case they do happen though."

XXXXX

Ziva laid herself back against the arm of the couch and opened her arms for Tony to lay down with her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his forehead as he rested his head on her chest.

"Are you scared for tomorrow?" Ziva asked.

Tony shrugged. "I don't really know why I would be. There's nothing scary about desk duty." Tony told her.

Ziva nodded. "Not the idea of it at least. But you may feel differently when you step into the building as an agent, and not a visitor." She told him.

Tony nodded against her. "I guess."

"On my first day back, I stood outside the building just staring at it for… I do not even know how long. I could not make myself go in." Ziva said.

"Why not?" Tony asked curiously.

Ziva thought for a moment. "A few reasons, I suppose. I did not want to mess up the flow of the team, for one. You all had gotten used to working without me." She said.

Tony shook his head. "No, we didn't." He told her. "We never got used to it."

Ziva tightened her grip around him. "I was scared that I wouldn't be the same agent that I was before." She told him.

Tony looked up at her. "You weren't." He said softly.

He felt Ziva's sharp inhale and she tugged her lower lip between her teeth. She looked toward the clock on the wall across from the couch and she felt tears burning in her eyes. She knew it was stupid, she was still a good agent and she knew it but hearing someone actually say that she wasn't the same didn't feel good.

Tony winced, cursing himself for saying it like that. He sat up and turned himself around to face her. He reached out to take her hands, and she pulled away. She stood and walked down the hallway silently, closing the bedroom door behind her.

' _Well fuck.'_ Tony thought to himself as he sat on the couch, trying to figure out what to do.

He decided to wait for a few minutes to see if she would come back before he walked toward the bedroom door.

He knocked gently. "Zi?" He called softly.

No response.

He decided not to invade her space, she would come to him when she was ready, so instead, he sat down in front of the closed door, leaning against the doorframe.

"You didn't let me finish Zi." He told her through the door. "I never said that you were different in a bad way because you aren't. When I first met you, you had the investigative skills of Scrappy-Doo. You were fast, and impulsive, and you had this view on the cases that we handled that was so black and white, I loved it. I still do, actually. The biggest thing I noticed about you when you came back was that your determination, your drive to not only solve cases, but to help the victims, was so much deeper. You-"

He was interrupted by the bedroom door opening slowly and Ziva stared down at him with tear-stained cheeks. He reached up to her.

"Come here Zi." He said softly.

Ziva stood for a moment, thinking before she sunk down to sit beside him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. She rested her head against his shoulder.

"You're softer than you were when I first met you. And that isn't a bad thing Ziva. It doesn't mean you're any less of an agent, or any less skilled. It means that you've broadened yourself. Everything else about you is the same. You still mess up English, you're still as sarcastic as ever… You're still way, way too hard on yourself." He told her, hugging her against himself tightly. He felt a fresh wave of her tears on his neck. "I love all of those things Zi, I always have."

Ziva hugged him tightly.

"I didn't mean to upset you sweetheart, I'm sorry." Tony told her honestly.

The couple sat in the doorway silently for a few minutes before Ziva spoke.

"I am sorry. I overreacted." She said.

Tony shook his head. "No, I should've found a better way to explain myself."

Ziva laughed lightly and rolled her eyes. "Are you going to argue until I agree that you're right?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "You know it." He said. His hand came up to wipe the tears off Ziva's cheek gently. "I love you, more than anything." He told her.

Ziva smiled a bit and kissed his cheek softly. "I love you too." She told him before she laid her head back on his shoulder.

"Can I ask you something?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "Of course."

"What did going back to work feel like?"

Ziva thought for a moment. "After I got into the building, I felt okay. I was a bit tense, obviously, but I knew that it was where I belonged. I was exactly where I was supposed to be, when I was supposed to be there." She explained.

Tony nodded. "Can I ask you something stupid now?"

Ziva looked up at him. "You can ask me anything."

Tony hesitated. "Do… do you believe that I'm supposed to go back tomorrow?" He asked.

"That is not a stupid question, Tony." Ziva told him firmly. "And I can't really answer that. That is something you have to feel for yourself, but if it helps any, I believe that everything happens for a reason. Even the little things, like picking up a quarter on the street." She said.

Tony nodded. "I promise, you'll be the first to know if something is wrong."

Ziva nodded against his shoulder. "I can live with that."

She felt Tony's grip around her waist tighten and she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry I upset you." He said once again.

Ziva lifted her head off his chest, and both of her hands came up to cup his face as she spoke.

"I am alright." She told him. "You did not do anything wrong. That was all me. I do not care if you feel like it was what you said, it wasn't. But I am alright, and so are we. Even if I get upset, we will always be alright, because I am not going anywhere. Do you understand me?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "I'm not going anywhere either." Tony agreed.

Ziva leaned in to kiss him gently. She pulled away, resting her forehead against his.

"I have no idea how to tell you how much I love you, and how much I need you." She whispered.

Tony smiled. "Do you remember what I told you in Somalia?" He asked.

"Something along the lines of 'couldn't live without you.' Correct?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Saleem gave me some sort of truth serum thing, and I promise you, every word of it was the truth. And it still is." He told her.

Ziva felt her chin quiver as a fresh flood of tears fell from her eyes. She felt half ridiculous for crying like this, and this amount, and the other half of her felt safe enough with Tony to let him see her fall apart. It was like she had decided a long time ago that this was okay, and her body was just catching up to her mind now.

Tony pressed his lips against hers briefly. "I only wish I had told you sooner."

Ziva nodded silently. She wished he had too. Not because if he had, there's a good chance she wouldn't have been involved with Michael, or the operation that resulted in her kidnapping. She wished they had told each other how they felt because she was relieved. She had someone that she knew would always be there for her and support her. And she would do the same for him, simply because they loved each other.

"What do you say we go take that nice long relaxing bath that we haven't gotten around to yet?" Tony suggested.

Ziva nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

XXXXX

Ziva was jolted awake by the feeling of someone shaking her. Her eyes opened and immediately fixed on Tony, who was sitting up cross-legged in the bed, facing her.

She rolled onto her back and reached out to hold his hand.

"Nightmare?" She asked.

Tony nodded silently.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ziva asked.

Tony shook his head no. "It was the same one." He told her quietly.

Ziva knew the dream he was talking about. It was him, behind the bar, with the music getting louder and louder until he couldn't even hear himself calling for help.

She opened her arms to him. "Come here love." She beckoned softly.

Tony laid down beside her, resting his head on her chest gently. She wrapped one arm around him, rubbing his back softly while the other came up to stroke his hair.

They laid in silence like this for a few moments, allowing Tony to get his breathing back under control, he had learned to match Ziva's breathing whenever he got scared.

Ziva waited until Tony relaxed into her a bit before she started to sing gently, hoping to get him back to sleep quickly. He needed as much sleep as he could get for the next day.


	5. Chapter 5

_Here's chapter five! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!_

 _ **Five**_

Tony stepped out of Ziva's car in the NCIS parking lot and grabbed his bag. He stood silently, waiting for Ziva to gather her things and lock the car.

Ziva walked around the car to stand beside him. She reached for Tony's hand and he took it gratefully.

"Are you ready?" Ziva asked, looking up at him.

Tony took a deep breath. "I think so." He said before he started toward the building.

His grip on Ziva's hand tightened as they got closer to the doors.

"Are you alright?" Ziva asked.

Tony shrugged. "Just don't let me stop walking." He told her.

Ziva squeezed his hand tightly. "Deep breaths." She told him as she opened the door for him.

Tony took her advice, inhaling deeply before he stepped into the building.

Tony hit the call button for the elevator and looked over at Ziva.

"I love you." He told her softly as the elevator dinged.

Ziva looked up at him, a bit surprised. That wasn't what she expected him to say. They stepped into the elevator and she brought her hand up to his chin, tilting his head toward her.

"I love you too." She said before pressing her lips against his.

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped into the squad room. They turned the corner and were surprised to see Abby running toward them.

Abby crashed into Ziva, hugging her tightly before she turned to look at Tony, who already had his arms open for the scientist.

"You're back!" Abby exclaimed as she hugged Tony tightly.

"I'm back." Tony said as Abby let go of him.

She led Tony and Ziva into the squad room and Ziva dropped her bag beside her desk.

Tony nodded toward McGee. "Morning Probie."

McGee rolled his eyes but smiled. "It's good to have you back." He told Tony honestly.

"How are you feeling?" Abby asked as Tony took his coat off and hung it over the back of his chair.

Tony sat down, smiling. "Good as new." He told her. It was sort of true. "Morning boss." He called toward Gibbs as the older man walked toward his desk, coffee in hand.

"Grab your gear." Gibbs said as he unlocked his desk drawer to retrieve his weapon.

Ziva, McGee, and Tony all stood, grabbing their weapons and bags.

Gibbs walked over to stand in front of Tony's desk. "Not you." He said firmly.

"Right…" Tony said, remembering that he was on restricted duty. It wasn't even a conscious decision anymore. When Gibbs told them to gear up, he did. It was a reflex.

Ziva was glad she hadn't had the time to take her coat off yet. She watched as Tony dropped his weapon back into its drawer and sat down.

Gibbs and McGee walked toward the elevator.

Ziva walked over to Tony's desk quickly, leaning over it to kiss his cheek.

"Be safe." Tony reminded her as she walked away. He knew it was just a crime scene, and it would produce little to no danger, but he couldn't explain the nervous feeling he had as he watched Ziva jog to catch Gibbs and McGee in the elevator.

Tony leaned back in his chair and looked up at Abby.

"Glad to be back?" Abby asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. I think I am." He told her.

XXXXX

"So how are you doing?" McGee asked Ziva as he turned right when the GPS told him to.

Ziva shrugged. "I am fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She asked.

McGee shrugged. "Just making sure." He told her.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Is Tony ready to come back?" McGee asked suddenly.

Ziva turned to look at him. "I am not the one you should be asking." She said.

McGee shook his head. "I know you won't lie to me. Tony will."

Ziva sighed. "I do not know." She told him honestly. "I think he needs to be doing something, so it isn't all he thinks about. That is what I did."

McGee nodded. "That makes sense."

The rest of the drive was silent, both parties lost in thought.

McGee hit the brakes when he saw Gibbs' car sitting on the side of the road, with a small red car sitting in front of it.

He pulled in behind Gibbs and turned off the truck. Ziva climbed out of the truck and grabbed her bag. She started walking toward Gibbs, who was standing beside the car, looking in through the open window.

"That is a lot of blood." Ziva mumbled as she walked up the stand beside Gibbs. "Where is the body?" She asked.

He looked up at her. "Not sure. Probably in there." He said, pointing toward the forest on the other side of the ditch.

Ziva nodded. "Lovely." She said sarcastically. "Why were we called? This isn't a Navy vehicle."

Gibbs shrugged. "I don't know. Call Tony, ask him to run the plates." He told her.

"On it." She told him as McGee walked past her with a camera.

She grabbed her cell phone out of her back pocket and dialed Tony's number.

" _Very special agent Anthony DiNozzo speaking, how may I be of assistance?"_ Tony said when he answered his phone.

Ziva laughed lightly. "You could run a license plate number for me." She told him.

Tony smiled. _"Of course, lay it on me."_

Ziva stepped around the car so she could see the license plate clearly. "Victor, Romeo, golf, six, one, one, eight." She told him.

" _Alright."_ Tony hit enter to start the search and sat back in his chair, waiting.

"Have you managed to start catching up on your paperwork?" Ziva asked playfully.

Tony rolled his eyes. _"I opened a file and closed it, if that counts."_ He told her.

Ziva chuckled. "Such a hard worker."

Tony smiled. _"You're absolutely right, and I found the car. It's registered to Lieutenant Rose McDonald, thirty-three, currently stationed in Norfolk."_ He told her.

"Alright, thanks Tony." Ziva said before she hung up.

"The car is registered to Lieutenant Rose McDonald." Ziva told Gibbs and McGee.

"Her ID isn't in the car, so it has to be with her." McGee stated.

"Ziver, you're with me, start searching the woods." Gibbs said. "McGee-"

"Shoot, sketch, and wait for Ducky. Got it boss." McGee interrupted.

Ziva nodded and pulled her backpack onto both shoulders. She followed Gibbs through the ditch and into the tree line.

"She can't have gotten too far after losing that much blood. You go east, I'll go west?" Ziva suggested.

Gibbs nodded and headed east.

Ziva turned to walk in her own chosen direction. She tried to walk as quietly as she could, listening for anything that could be around her. It was hard to do at eight o'clock in the morning in November. The ground had a layer of frost on it, and Ziva was almost regretting not wearing more layers.

She stopped when she heard a small noise. _Maybe a bird._ She thought.

She heard it again. She waited a moment before she heard it a third time and realized that no, it wasn't a bird, it was a person. She darted toward a pile of brush that looked like it had been cut down because it was leaning too close to a powerline.

She pushed a pile of branches to the side and found a blonde woman, covered in blood and gasping underneath.

"I FOUND HER! CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Ziva yelled back in the direction she had come from.

She knelt down beside the woman and tried to find where the blood had come from.

"Lieutenant McDonald?" She asked calmly.

The woman nodded.

"What hurts, where is the blood coming from?" Ziva asked. It was everywhere. Her shirt was covered, her skirt was torn, and also soaked in blood.

"Stomach." The Lieutenant mumbled through gasps.

Ziva heard Gibbs and McGee running up to her and they both slid onto their knees to help her.

Ziva lifted her shirt and sure enough, that's where the blood had come from. The Lieutenant had two stab wounds in her abdomen.

"Gauze, McGee." Ziva spat, praying that McGee had had the sense to grab the first aid kit from the truck.

She was thankful when he handed her a pile of gauze. She pressed it against the two wounds, soaking it quickly.

"The ambulance should be here soon, we aren't that far out of town." McGee told her.

Ziva nodded. All she had to do was keep her alive until the paramedics got there. She could do that.

"More gauze McGee." She said. "And make sure you put this in an evidence bag." She told him, holding out the bloody gauze squares.

McGee did as she asked.

They heard sirens in the distance and Gibbs turned to McGee.

"We got this McGee, go wait for the ambulance, bring them down here." Gibbs told him.

McGee nodded and stood, and Ziva hadn't ever seen him run as fast as he did when he ran back toward the truck.

Gibbs kept handing Ziva fresh gauze and bagging the used gauze until he heard footsteps behind him.

Three paramedics surrounded them and Ziva yielded her position to one of them.

Ziva, Gibbs, and McGee watched as the paramedics worked, putting on a temporary bandage and lifting her onto the backboard.

"Let's move." The tall, dark haired paramedic said.

The three of them lifted the lieutenant up and began to walk out of the woods with her. The team followed.

"Where are you taking her?" Gibbs asked.

"George Washington." One of the paramedics told him.

Gibbs nodded. "McGee go with them. Call me if anything happens."

McGee nodded. "On it." He said before he followed the paramedics to the ambulance quickly.

When Ziva and Gibbs emerged from the forest, climbing up onto the road, Ducky and Palmer were standing there, beside their own gurney, confused.

"She's still alive?" Palmer asked.

Ziva nodded. "She is."

"Lucky girl." Ducky said.

"With whatever happened to her, I doubt she feels lucky." Ziva said.

XXXXX

Ziva stepped out of the elevator and walked around the corner toward her desk. Tony spotted her out of the corner of his eye and did a double take when he saw that she was covered in blood.

He stood up and walked toward her. She could see the look of worry on his face.

"It is not mine, I am fine." She told Tony before he even had the chance to ask.

"Whose?" He asked.

"Lieutenant McDonald. She's still alive." Ziva told him. "Can you grab my bag? I don't want to touch it until I've washed my hands." She told him.

She held up her hands, which were covered with exam gloves, but underneath they were clearly bloody.

Tony bent over and grabbed Ziva's bag and followed her to the change room. She opened the door to let him in.

"You know that's the women's change room, right?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Would you prefer it if I used the men's? I need your hands for a minute." She told him. "No one is even in here."

Tony thought for a moment before he stepped into the change room after her.

"I think I have an extra evidence bag or two in the front pocket, can you grab them for my clothes?" Ziva asked as she peeled the gloves off of her hands.

Tony took the large evidence bags out of her backpack and pulled one open. Ziva dropped the gloves into the bag and peeled her jacket off. She folded it neatly before it followed her gloves into the bag.

"Next one." She said as she peeled her shirt off. She stood, holding the shirt for a moment while Tony did up one bag and opened the other.

The blood had soaked through her coat, and her shirt in some places, and she placed her shirt and bra into the evidence bag, along with her pants and underwear.

"Can you take those down to Abby please?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah sure." He stepped closer to her. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "I am fine. I am just going to shower and then I will be out." She told Tony, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Tony nodded. "Alright. Scream if you need anything. Well maybe just text." He said, laughing lightly.

Ziva chuckled. "I will."

Ziva walked toward her locker, she always kept a spare change of clothes for situations exactly like this. She opened the locker and pulled out what she needed, including a small travel bottle of her body wash and shampoo and locked it back up again.

She stepped into the shower and turned on the water. She hated showering at work because she could never get the temperature just how she liked it. So, she settled for slightly cool and made quick work of washing the lieutenant's blood off of her body.

Once she had gotten herself into fresh clothes, she pulled her hair up into a tight bun and grabbed her backpack and walked back to her desk.

Gibbs was back now and sitting at his desk, talking on his cell phone.

Ziva sat down at her desk.

Gibbs hung up the phone.

"Find anything out?" Tony asked from his desk.

Gibbs nodded. "It's worse than we thought." He told them. "McGee says she has cuts, all over her body, fresh, whoever tried to kill her did it. No damaged organs, she's getting stitched up now. She told a nurse that she had been raped."

Ziva tried not to make it obvious as she looked up at Tony. He looked a bit tense, and he noticed her watching him. He nodded slightly, trying to tell her that he was alright.

"Has McGee talked to her yet?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs shook his head. "Not yet, after the doctors are finished. DiNozzo, start going over her phone records, Ziver, track her movements for the last forty-eight hours, I want to know where she was before she ended up in the woods." He told them firmly.

Ten minutes later Gibbs' phone was ringing again.

"Yeah?" He asked as he flipped his phone open.

" _It's me."_ McGee told him. _"Lieutenant McDonald is refusing to speak to me."_

"Well why not?" Gibbs asked.

McGee shrugged. _"If she was speaking to me I would know that. Maybe you should send Ziva over, let her talk to a woman."_ He suggested.

"Yeah, will do." Gibbs said shortly before he hung up the phone.

"Ziva." Gibbs called.

Ziva looked up from her computer screen.

"Go over to the hospital, the lieutenant won't talk to McGee." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "Sure." She said as she stood up and started to gather her things.

Gibbs turned to Tony. "Are you cleared to drive?" He asked.

Tony looked up at him. "Me?" He asked.

Gibbs nodded.

"Yeah, why?" Tony asked.

Gibbs tossed him a set of keys. "Follow Ziva, go pick up McGee." He told Tony.

Tony nodded. "Got it."

XXXXX

Twenty minutes later, Tony and Ziva were parking beside each other in the hospital parking lot. They got out of their respective cars and began to walk toward the sliding doors of the Emergency Room.

They walked down the hallway to the nurse's station.

Ziva held up her badge. "Special Agent David, this is Special Agent DiNozzo, we're here to see Rose McDonald." She told the blonde nurse sitting behind the desk.

The nurse nodded. "Right over there." She said, pointing to a room across the hall.

Ziva led Tony toward the room and she knocked lightly before they walked in. McGee was standing in front of the pull around curtain which was shielding the lieutenant.

"Tony?" McGee asked. "I thought you were on desk duty."

"I'm just here to drag you back." Tony told him.

McGee nodded and handed his notepad over to Ziva to look over.

"Thank you." Ziva said as she read his messy hand writing.

"We should go. I don't feel like being head slapped because there's no one there to work." Tony said. "I'll see you later." He told Ziva, leaning over to kiss her temple before he led McGee out of the room.

Ziva took a deep breath and stepped around the curtain.

"Lieutenant McDonald?" She asked gently.

The lieutenant looked up at her. "Rose, please." She said. "I remember you. You're the agent who found me, right?" She asked.

Ziva dragged the chair in the corner of the room over to sit beside the lieutenant's bed.

"Yes, I am. My name is Ziva." She told her. "How are you feeling?"

"Thank you. You saved my life." Rose said.

Ziva nodded, unsure of the appropriate response.

"You're here because I wouldn't talk to the other agent, right?" Rose asked.

Ziva nodded once again. "We need to know what happened so we can catch the person responsible for this." She told her.

Rose sighed. "His name is Owen Ramsey." She told Ziva.

"Is he Navy?" Ziva asked.

Rose shook her head. "No."

"He is your boyfriend?" Ziva asked.

Rose nodded. "Well he was, until about a week ago. I broke it off because I was set to deploy next week. Six months on the Eisenhower."

"Was it serious?" Ziva asked.

Rose shook her head. "Not to me it wasn't. I didn't think it was to him either."

"And you were with him this morning?" Ziva asked.

Rose nodded. "He showed up at my apartment with coffee. I was running late, and he wanted to talk, so I told him I'd drop him off near his place because it was on my way." She said.

"What happened after you got in the car?" Ziva asked.

She watched the lieutenant carefully. Her eyes had closed, and her fists were clenched as she remembered what had happened to her.

"He was trying to convince me to get back together, and when I told him no, and kept telling him no, he pulled a folding knife out of his pocket. He told me to pull over, so I did." Rose told her, her voice shaking.

"What happened next?" Ziva asked gently.

"He stabbed me, here." Rose told her, her hand moving to her side. "And I tried to get out of the car to run, and he stabbed be again, so I stopped." She said.

"You told a nurse that you had been raped." Ziva stated.

Rose nodded. "I don't really remember how I got from the car to the woods, everything hurt so much. I just have little flashes of what happened. I was in the car, and then I was in the woods, and he was on top of me, and then everything went black." She explained quietly. "And when I woke up again, you were asking me where the blood was coming from."

Ziva nodded as she wrote down what the lieutenant was telling her quickly.

"Are you comfortable having a rape kit done?" Ziva asked.

Rose nodded. "Yes, I was told that the SANE nurse would be in soon." She said, trying to seem more confident than she looked.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. Is there anyone you would like me to call to come sit with you?" She asked.

"Can you actually just hand me my cell phone out of… my purse isn't here…" Rose said.

Ziva pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "Use mine." She told her. "I'm just going to step outside to talk to the nurses." She said before stepping out of the room.

She pulled the door of the room shut and collided with someone as she turned around.

"Ziva?" The woman asked.

Ziva stepped back to get a clear look at the smaller woman. She smiled a bit.

"Sarah, how are you?" She asked.

Sarah shrugged. "As good as I can be I suppose." She said as she held up the evidence collection kit that she assumed was going to be used for Lieutenant McDonald. "How's Tony?" She asked.

Ziva smiled. "He is getting better, today is his first day back at work." She told her.

"That's great! I'm glad he's doing better. I'm assuming I'm gonna be sending this to you guys?" She asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes please." She said.

Sarah nodded. "Sure thing." She said before she pushed the door open. Ziva followed her in.

"Grabbing my cell." She told Sarah.

She stepped around the curtain and Rose held out her cell phone.

"Thank you, for everything." She said.

Ziva smiled. "No problem." She said before she walked out of the room.

She walked back through the parking lot to her car and sat down inside. It was still fairly warm from her drive over to the hospital, which she was thankful for. She started her car and pulled out of the parking spot to head back to work.

XXXXX

Tony walked into the bedroom that night after Gibbs had insisted that Ziva took him home, because he and McGee could handle going to pick up Ramsey, and they could all sense Tony's anxiety.

Tony sat down beside Ziva on the bed and looked over at her, surprised to see her writing in a notebook.

"What's that?" Tony asked curiously.

Ziva shrugged. "Just a journal. Nothing special. It helps to sort out my thoughts on cases sometimes." She told him.

Tony sat back against the headboard, watching her write quickly. She must have had a lot of thoughts about this case. She finished her sentence and closed the book, and dropped it into the drawer of her night stand.

"You okay?" Tony asked as she sat back beside him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I think so. I just wasn't expecting this to be our first case back." Ziva said.

"I was talking about you finding her." Tony said softly. "McGee said it was pretty scary." He told her.

Ziva shrugged. "It was not what I was expecting. I thought she would be dead." She told him honestly.

Tony nodded. "You saved her life."

Ziva nodded. "Yeah." She said simply.

"Can I tell you something?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "Of course."

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "I was terrified when you stepped out of the elevator… there was so much blood, and I thought that some of it was yours…" He trailed off.

Ziva lifted her head off his shoulder to kiss him softly. "I am okay." She reminded him.

He nodded. "I know. I guess it just made me think of how easy it would have been for you not to be." He admitted.

Ziva wrapped her arms around him. "I will always do everything I can to come back to you. No matter what." She told him firmly.

Tony pulled her closer to him. "So will I."

Ziva smiled a bit. "Come on, we should get some sleep. We do have to work tomorrow."

Tony nodded. "I want to watch Gibbs interrogate him." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I do too." She said as she laid her head down on her pillow.

Tony laid down beside her and they wrapped their arms around each other. They both still sound it kind of funny that before they had started doing this, neither one of them liked to cuddle, but together they couldn't get enough of it.

"Goodnight." Tony said, sliding close to her.

"Goodnight love."


	6. Chapter 6

_I'm sorry I took so long getting this chapter up! I tried to write it like five different ways and I hated every single version of it until this one. Anyway, chapter seven will not take nearly as long! Sorry for the wait, but enjoy chapter 6 and make sure to let me know what you think!_

 _ **Six**_

"I feel kind of bad for leaving Gibbs and McGee to work the case alone." Tony told Ziva as they got in the car Wednesday morning.

Ziva pulled the car away from the curb. "He would not have sent us home if they could not handle it." She said.

Tony nodded. "I guess. Do you think he thinks I'm not ready to come back?" He asked quietly.

Ziva reached over the center console to hold his hand. "Absolutely not." She told him. "He cares about you, and your health. I was the one who asked if I could take you home last night. Gibbs agreed because he wants to ease you back in. He does not want to overwhelm you."

Tony looked over at her. "Do you think I'm not ready to be back?" He asked.

Ziva looked over at him as she stopped at a red light. "No, Tony I know you are. You are perfectly capable of handling desk duty." She told him.

"But?" Tony asked.

"But you have been through a lot. I know you do not want to say it, but yesterday you were so frustrated by the end of the day you were shaking. You are letting the emotions from your own attack guide your instincts at work. Which is not a bad thing." She told him as she watched the light turn green.

"Then why did you take me home?" He asked.

"Because even though it is not a bad thing, you need a bit of time to adjust. Think about it this way. When you break a bone, you go to physical therapy for a while, and you're only allowed to do so much while it strengthens and finishes healing, yes?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

"They why is it not the same for your mind?" She asked, squeezing his hand gently.

Tony thought for a moment. "I guess it should be." He told her.

"That is why I took you home. I could see that it was getting to you. And I know you're too stubborn to want to say anything, especially in front of Gibbs and McGee." Ziva said.

"Embarrassed." Tony mumbled.

Ziva looked over at him. "Hmm?" She asked.

"Embarrassed. Not stubborn." He told her.

Ziva reached for his hand once again, tangling her fingers with his. "You do not need to be embarrassed, Tony. It is okay to feel things."

XXXXX

Ten minutes later Tony and Ziva stepped into the elevator at work. Ziva reached over and hit the emergency stop switch.

"What are you doing?" Tony asked.

Ziva stepped closer to him, pulling him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You okay?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "I am fine. I just need a second." She told him.

She really just wanted to give him a last attempt at feeling safe before the doors slid open and they had to step into the real world.

Tony nodded against her. "Alright."

Ziva pulled away after a moment and stood on her toes to kiss Tony's cheek gently before she reached over and flipped the emergency switch. The lights in the elevator came back on and Tony reached for her hand. She took it, smiling up at him as the elevator doors slid open.

They stepped out of the elevator and walked toward their desks. They were surprised to see that Gibbs and McGee were already at their desks. They had thought they were early.

"Morning." Ziva said as she and Tony separated to sit in their own chairs.

"Morning." McGee greeted quickly.

"Have you found anything?" Ziva asked.

"Nothing. We went to pick Ramsey up last night and he wasn't home." McGee told her.

"And this surprised you?" Ziva asked.

McGee shook his head no. "We've been trying to track Ramsey all night. The guy just disappeared." He told them.

"DiNozzo, see-" Tony cut Gibbs off.

"If Ramsey or any of his family members have used their bank cards since Lieutenant McDonald's attack." He said as he took his jacket off and sat down in his chair.

Gibbs turned to Ziva. "Find-"

"Find out if Ramsey's family has had any contact with him. I will go interview the parents?" She asked.

Gibbs nodded. "Go."

"Just sent you the address." McGee called from his desk.

Ziva nodded and grabbed her bag off of the floor beside her desk. "I will be back."

She looked over at Tony, who looked up from his computer for a moment. He nodded, and she took it as his 'I'll be okay,' signal, and headed toward the elevator.

XXXXX

Ziva raised her hand to knock on the door of the Ramsey house.

The door was pulled open and a tall man with greying hair stepped into the doorway.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

Ziva held up her badge. "My name is Ziva David, I am with NCIS, I have a few questions about your son, Owen." She told him.

The man rolled his eyes. "I'm Patrick. Please, come in." He said, stepping out of the way to let her into the house.

Ziva stepped into the house and waited for mister Ramsey to shut the door. He stepped around her and led her into a small, cozy kitchen, where a small woman, who looked to be around sixty – his wife, she assumed – was standing, washing dishes.

"Evelyn, this agent is here to ask some questions about Owen." Mister Ramsey told his wife, setting his hand on her shoulder.

Evelyn picked up a towel off the counter and dried her hands as she turned around to face Ziva.

"Would you like some tea, dear? I was just about to make some for Patrick." She said, pointing to the kettle heating up on the stove.

Ziva smiled. "Tea would be lovely, thank you." She said.

Evelyn nodded and pulled an extra cup off out of the cupboard.

"Please, sit." Patrick said, pulling a chair out at the table for Ziva.

Ziva sat and placed her notepad on the table in front of her. "Thank you." She said as she watched Patrick sit down across from her.

"So, what has he done this time?" Patrick asked.

"You expect that he has done something wrong?" Ziva asked curiously.

Patrick shrugged. "It's normal. It's been normal since he was what, Eve, sixteen?" He asked.

Evelyn nodded. "That sounds about right." She told them as she placed a cup full of tea in front of each of them. "Cream and sugar?" She asked Ziva.

Ziva nodded. "Please." She said. "He has had a long history of violence?"

Patrick nodded. "It started with being protective of his sister, they have always been close, but after they grew up, he moved out, and he's been in… too many fights to even count, and he's been arrested for domestic violence a few times." He told her.

Ziva waited until Evelyn was sitting down before she spoke.

"He stabbed and raped a Navy Lieutenant yesterday morning." Ziva told them bluntly.

"Dear God… did she survive?" Evelyn asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, she did, she will make a full recovery."

Evelyn nodded. "That's good…" She trailed off.

"Have either of you had any contact with your son since yesterday morning?" Ziva asked.

Patrick shook his head no. "He doesn't usually call or come over until Sunday." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "Can you tell me about his mental state most of the time?" She asked, sipping her cup of tea.

Evelyn sighed. "He was a good boy, when he was younger… he was always very protective of his sister, he still is. They are still very close." She told Ziva.

"He never had anything wrong with him. He's always been perfectly healthy, both physically and mentally." Patrick told her.

"Do you think he would go to your daughter if he was in trouble?" Ziva asked.

Evelyn nodded. "It's a good possibility."

XXXXX

Gibbs stepped out of the elevator and crossed the hall into Abby's lab. The familiar loud music pounded in his ears as he walked toward her, fresh Caf-Pow! in hand.

"Whad'ya got Abbs?" Gibbs asked.

Abby looked over at him. "Just what we already know." She told him. "The DNA from the SANE kit definitely belongs to Owen Ramsey." She told him.

Gibbs nodded. "Anything else? Find anything about where he had been before the attack?" He asked.

Abby shrugged and turned around to the table behind her, which was currently supporting a microscope.

"A few of the fibres that were recovered were transferred from Ramsey's clothes onto the Lieutenant. There is a bit of a weird substance on the skirt that was sent over. It's from a shoe print, but there was something on the shoe when he stepped on her." Abby told him.

"What is it?" Gibbs asked, peering through the microscope.

Abby shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. Maybe paint, it's a bit too sticky for paint though." She told him.

Gibbs nodded. "But the DNA is definitely his?" He asked.

Abby nodded. "Yes. I got a ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent match. It's him Gibbs." She told him.

"I also think I know what the knife he used looks like." Abby told him.

She held up a sketch of a knife with a curved blade.

"The Lieutenant probably got lucky. There was no serrated edge in the wound, and it was too thin to be any type of combat knife, and it's not a steak knife, so I'm thinking it's a-"

Gibbs cut her off. "It's a fillet knife."

Abby nodded. "Yeah."

Gibbs leaned forward to kiss her cheek lightly and he handed her the Caf-Pow! in his hand.

"Thanks Abby." He said before walking back out of the lab.

XXXXX

Ziva stepped out onto the front porch of the Ramsey's house, escorted by Patrick and Evelyn.

"Thank you for the tea, and for the answers." Ziva said politely.

Evelyn smiled brightly. "If you have any more questions just give us a call."

Ziva nodded. "I will, and if Owen comes home, you will make sure to call me, yes?" She asked.

They nodded. "Absolutely."

Ziva nodded and began to walk down the few steps to the driveway. "Take care." She called back.

She heard the front door of the house close and she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket as she got into the car. She pulled Tony's number up and pressed the call button before putting it on speaker phone.

Tony answered on the fourth ring.

" _Hey, what's up?"_ Tony asked

"Can you find the address for Owen Ramsey's sister Sophie? Apparently they are very close." Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. " _Yeah, just give me one second."_

Ziva heard him typing for a moment.

" _Did the parents give you anything?"_ He asked.

Ziva shook her head. "Not as to where he could be. He doesn't usually contact them until Sunday."

Tony nodded. _"Helpful. Alright, Sophie Ramsey lives in an apartment in Logan Circle… twelve twenty-three Twelfth Street Northwest."_

Ziva wrote the address down in her notepad. "Thank you. Tell Gibbs I am going to talk to the sister and then I will be back." She told Tony.

"Will do." Tony said. "Be safe."

Ziva smiled softly. "I love you too." She told him before she hung up.

She started the car and pulled out of the Ramsey's driveway, headed for Logan Circle.

XXXXX

Ziva stepped off the elevator at NCIS an hour and a half later, frustrated.

She walked toward her desk and dropped her bag on the floor with a thud.

"You okay?" Tony asked as he approached her desk.

Ziva shrugged her jacket off her shoulders angrily and threw it over the back of her chair. "I got nothing. Where are Gibbs and McGee?" She asked.

"They just went to interview Ramsey's roommates." He told her. "Come on, let's go grab something from the vending machine, you haven't eaten since last night." He suggested softly.

Ziva shook her head. "I am not hungry Tony." She snapped as she sat down in her chair.

Tony held his hand out to her. "You have to eat something. Let me buy you a bag of chips. You can tell me what Ramsey's family said. Maybe there's something there."

Ziva sighed, looking up at him. She knew what he was trying to do. He was just trying to help her head stop spinning, and she appreciated it. Even for her, this was a case that was incredibly intense to experience as your first case in two months.

She nodded silently and slid her hand into his. "Alright."

Tony smiled as she stood, and he led her toward the elevator to go upstairs to the lounge.

Ziva sat down at one of the tables in the empty lounge and watched at Tony pulled a dollar out of his wallet at the vending machine.

He put the dollar in the machine and hit the button for the barbecue chips – Ziva's favorite. He grabbed the chips out of the machine and handed them to her.

She took them gratefully and pulled them open as he sat down across from her.

"So, tell me." He said. "What did the parents say?"

Ziva sighed. "They were not shocked when I showed up, I suppose Ramsey has always been in trouble with the police. They told me he started to get violent around his sixteenth birthday." She told him.

Tony nodded. "There had to have been a reason for that, did they tell you anything?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no as she chewed on a chip. "No, they said that he was the one who started causing the problems, nothing happened to him. No bullying, no death in the family, not even a head injury." She said.

"What did the sister say?" Tony asked.

"Basically, the same thing. He never hurt her, he was very protective. But she never saw or heard about anything happening to him that would have caused that amount of anger." Ziva told him.

Tony reached out to grab a chip from the bag. "Do you believe what they're saying?" He asked.

Ziva thought for a moment. "Yes. They all seemed genuine, and I do not know why they would lie, they were not the ones being looked at."

Tony nodded. "Maybe he just snapped?" Tony asked. "It's happened before."

Ziva nodded. "Maybe. I just do not understand how he can disappear like this. He has no training, he bags groceries at a Walmart, he should not be able to do this." She told him.

"Did they say anything about his friends? Maybe gang members?" Tony asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "Nothing like that. I left the parents and the family my phone number. They said they would call if they heard from him."

Tony nodded. "Come on, let's go see if Gibbs and McGee got anything."

XXXXX

"Where the hell could he be?!" Ziva asked angrily as she slammed the phone down on her desk. It was now almost midnight and they still had absolutely nothing to go on.

Gibbs looked up at her, and then looked toward Tony, who seemed to be just as surprised by her outburst as he was.

"Ziver-" Gibbs started.

Ziva interrupted him. "I am not going home." She snapped. "I am fine." She told him, looking back at her computer screen.

Gibbs looked back toward Tony, giving him a look that Tony interpreted as 'get her head on straight and come back tomorrow.'

Tony nodded and started to shut down his computers. He flicked the switch on his desk lamp and stood to walk over to Ziva's desk.

"I could use the time." He told her. It wasn't a complete lie, but he hadn't taken the time to see how this case was getting to her either.

Ziva looked up at him, trying to read the look on his face, and eventually resigned her position.

"Fine." She mumbled quietly. She switched off her computer and stood to pull her jacket onto her shoulders as Tony did the same.

"You will call me if you find anything?" She asked.

Gibbs nodded. "I will."

Ziva sighed and took the hand that Tony was holding out to her. "Alright. We will see you tomorrow morning."


	7. Chapter 7

_I've found my writing bug again! This chapter came so much quicker than chapter 6 and I am so glad! Anyway, the next chapter won't be case-based, I just kind of needed it in the last few chapters because obviously that's what NCIS is about, but either way, i hope you like this chapter, and the last few that have involved the case. Read, enjoy, and tell me what you think!_

* * *

 _ **Seven**_

Ziva's eyes opened when her phone rang on the bedside table. She looked over at the clock; it was just after midnight. She picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. She didn't recognize the number, but she hit talk anyway.

"Hello?" She asked, groggy.

" _Agent David?"_

"Sophie?" Ziva asked. "What happened?" She could hear the other woman crying.

" _Owen… he was just here, he almost broke my door down… he wanted cash, but I told him I-I don't have any, so he took my bank card."_ Sophie told her, her voice shaking.

"Are you hurt?" Ziva asked.

Sophie shook her head. _"No, no he just wanted money."_ She told her.

Ziva nodded. "Where would he go to get it?" She asked.

Sophie thought for a second. _"There's a pharmacy up the street, it's open all night. There's an ATM there."_ She told Ziva.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ziva asked quickly.

" _No, no, I'm fine."_ Sophie told her.

"Alright. Stay in your apartment, I will come check on you tomorrow, is that alright?" Ziva asked.

" _Agent David?"_ Sophie asked.

"Yes?" Ziva asked.

Sophie sniffled. _"Don't hurt him."_ She said before she hung up.

Ziva dropped her phone back onto the bedside table and sat up, tapping Tony's leg, trying to wake him up. Tony groaned and opened his eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"Call Gibbs." She told him, throwing the comforter off her body.

Tony sat up quickly and reached for his phone. "Why?" He asked as he searched through his contacts for Gibbs.

"Ramsey was just at his sister's apartment, he took her bank card to the pharmacy down the street from her place." Ziva told him as she pulled her clothes on.

She grabbed her badge and gun off of her dresser.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked.

"To pick him up." Ziva told him.

"I'm coming with you." Tony said.

Ziva turned around. "No, you are not." She told him firmly. "You are going to call Gibbs and stay out of the field." She told him.

Even in the dark, she could see Tony's tense posture. She walked over to his side of the bed and cupped his face gently with both hands.

"I will be fine. I will see you soon. I love you." She told him, pressing her lips to his gently. "Call Gibbs, tell him where I am going." She said as she turned and hurried out of the apartment.

XXXXX

Ten minutes later, Ziva parked her car a few doors down from the pharmacy. She opened the door and stepped out into the cool air, pulling her jacket tighter around herself as she walked toward the pharmacy.

She pulled the glass door open and smiled at the man sitting behind the counter. She spotted Ramsey standing second in line at the ATM machine and she walked toward him casually.

She stopped in front of him. "Owen Ramsey?" She asked.

He looked up at her.

She pulled her coat back to reveal the badge clipped to her waist.

Ramsey's eyes widened and he turned on his heel, breaking into a sprint for the door. Ziva turned to follow him, and she was incredibly thankful to see Gibbs standing in front of the exit.

Ramsey turned back toward Ziva, and Gibbs grabbed him. He pulled Ramsey's hands behind his back as Ziva stepped closer to them.

"Owen Ramsey, you're under arrest for the rape and attempted murder of Lieutenant Rose McDonald." Gibbs told him as he pulled his handcuffs out.

Before anyone realized what was happening, Ramsey twisted, and his right hand slipped out of Gibbs' grip. He lunged forward toward Ziva, raising his closed fist to strike her cheek. Ziva let out a yelp when Ramsey's fist connected with her face and Gibbs grabbed his arm and pulled it roughly behind his back once more.

"And now you can add assaulting a federal officer to your list of charges." Gibbs told him as McGee stepped into the store behind him.

Gibbs handed Ramsey off to McGee, who held him just as tightly as Gibbs had as he pushed him toward the car.

Ziva was standing in the middle of the store, her left hand tenderly holding her injured cheek. She was trying her best to hold back tears of shock, more than they were pain.

Gibbs stepped toward her. "Lemme see." He told her gently.

Ziva slowly removed her hand from her already swelling cheek.

Gibbs tilted her head to the side gently so he could see it in the light.

"No broken skin… did you feel anything break?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no slowly. Moving kind of hurt.

"You alright?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva nodded. "I think so." She told him.

Gibbs nodded. "McGee'll take you home." He told her.

Ziva shook her head. "I am fine Gibbs, really." She said.

Gibbs raised his eyebrow. "McGee will take you home." He repeated.

Ziva sighed as she realized that there was no use in arguing with him.

"What about my car?" Ziva asked.

"Come get it tomorrow." Gibbs told her. He rested his hand on her back gently and led her out of the store.

McGee was standing on the sidewalk with Ramsey bent over the hood of Gibbs' car.

"He tried to run Boss." McGee told him as they approached.

Gibbs nodded and grabbed Ramsey's arm. He pulled him up off the hood of the car and opened the back door and pushed him into the car. He slammed the door shut.

"Take Ziva home." Gibbs told McGee.

McGee nodded. "What about the interrogation?" He asked.

"Tomorrow. He's going to holding tonight." Gibbs said.

McGee nodded. "Alright." He said. He turned to Ziva. "My car is just down there." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I will see you in the morning." She told Gibbs before turning to follow McGee down the street to his car.

XXXXX

McGee drove much slower than she would have liked. A drive that took her ten minutes took him almost thirty. He parked the car outside of her apartment building and turned it off.

Ziva undid her seatbelt and reached for the door handle as McGee did the same.

"What are you doing?" Ziva asked.

"I'm walking you up to your apartment. I just wanna make sure you get in okay." McGee told her.

Ziva smiled softly. 'The caring brother,' she thought. "Alright." She said as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

She waited for McGee to get out of the car and walk around to her side before she started toward the building.

"Thank you." She said when McGee opened the door for her.

She led him through the small lobby of the apartment building to the elevator and hit the call button. She liked coming in at night, because it almost always meant that she didn't have to wait for the elevator.

They stepped into the elevator and waited for the doors to slide open again on her floor.

"This is me." She told McGee as she stopped in front of the apartment door and pulled out her keys. "Thank you." She said honestly.

McGee smiled. "You're welcome. I'll see you later." He told her before turning to walk back toward the elevator.

Ziva took a deep breath and slid her key into the lock. She pushed the door open and was unsurprised to find the living room light on, and Tony sitting on the couch, cell phone in hand, waiting for her.

Tony looked up at her when she walked in and his jaw dropped. He sprung up off the couch and rushed toward her.

"What happened?" He asked, observing her swollen, already purple cheek.

Ziva shrugged. "He slipped out of the cuffs." She told him simply as she hung her jacket up.

"Are you alright? Should you go get checked out? What if you have a concussion?" Tony asked quickly.

Ziva smiled. "I am fine Tony, I do not have a concussion. It only looks bad because it is on my face." She assured him.

Tony eyed her suspiciously. "At least let me get you a cold pack. It'll help with the swelling." He said.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. I am going to go into the bedroom." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Okay. I'll be right in." He told her.

Ziva nodded and turned toward the bedroom, peeling her clothes off as she went so that when she actually reached the bedroom, she could just crawl into bed and try to relax.

Tony walked into the bedroom a moment later holding the cold pack he had promised wrapped in a towel. He shut off the overhead light, relying on the lamp on his bedside table to see.

He sat down on his side of the bed beside Ziva and held the cold pack out to her.

"Here, you should put it on. I don't want to hurt you." He told her.

Ziva took it gratefully. "Thank you." She said softly.

Tony nodded and laid down, opening his arms for her to crawl closer to him.

Ziva rearranged herself to lay in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder gently as she pressed the cold pack to her sore cheek.

"When is Gibbs gonna interrogate him?" Tony asked.

"Tomorrow. And we will have to take your car to work, by the way." Ziva told him.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Mine is still at the pharmacy." Ziva said.

"How did you get home? Tell me you didn't walk." Tony said.

Ziva laughed lightly, and grimaced. Laughing hurt. She shook her head.

"McGee brought me. Walked me right to the door of the apartment." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Good." He said, pulling her closer to him. "You were right." He told her.

Ziva looked up at him. "I like hearing that." She joked. "What was I right about?" She asked.

Tony sighed. "Me being on desk duty. I didn't realize what it would be like not being in the field with you." He said.

"What is it like?" Ziva asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "It scares me."

"Why?" Ziva asked.

Tony hesitated. Ziva grabbed the cold pack with her left hand to hold it against her cheek while her right stretched across Tony's chest gently.

"Talk to me." She said softly.

Tony shrugged. "I'm not sure what's going on… I'm not there to protect you… It's not that I don't trust Gibbs and McGee, you know I do it's just…" He trailed off.

"They are not you." Ziva finished for him.

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

Ziva kissed his shoulder and squeezed him tightly. "I promise you, every time I leave you, my first priority is coming back to you. And I will do my absolute best to do exactly that every single time." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I know, I just don't want you to get hurt." He told her, looking pointedly at her cheek.

Ziva ran her hand over his chest slowly. "I have had worse." She reminded him.

Tony's grip on her tightened. Ziva lifted her head to kiss him gently.

"Everything is okay now Tony. We are okay." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I guess."

Ziva laid her head back down on his shoulder and snuggled into him. "We should try and sleep a little. I want to watch Gibbs interrogate Ramsey tomorrow. And we will probably have a stack of paperwork to get through."

Tony pulled the comforter up around them and reached over to turn off the lamp on the bedside table.

"Goodnight. I love you." He told Ziva, kissing her forehead gently.

Ziva smiled against him as much as her injured face would let her without pain.

"I love you too."

XXXXX

Ziva was absolutely right about the paperwork. As soon as they walked into the building, Tony was greeted with a stack of insurance papers, and papers for the leave he had taken.

He groaned and dropped his bag beside his desk. "Great."

Ziva smiled a bit as she watched him. He looked just as displeased with paperwork as he would have two and a half months ago, and Ziva loved it.

She hung her jacket over the back of her chair and turned to greet McGee when he stepped off the elevator.

"Good morning McGee." Ziva said.

McGee walked into the squad room and dropped his things on his desk.

"Gibbs is about to start interrogating Ramsey." McGee told them.

Tony looked up at him. "It isn't even seven thirty." He said.

McGee shrugged. "We were here all night." He told them.

He grabbed his large coffee mug off his desk and headed toward interrogation. Tony and Ziva followed quickly.

They entered the observation room and took their places in front of the two-way glass. Ziva reached for Tony's hand when she noticed that he had tensed up a bit.

Tony jumped when the door to the interrogation room swung open and Gibbs stepped into the room. He sat down on the chair across from Ramsey and put his coffee on the table.

"Sleep okay?" Gibbs asked plainly.

Ramsey stayed silent.

Gibbs nodded. "So, when you got into Lieutenant McDonald's car the other day, were you planning on stabbing her, or was that just," he shrugged. "…luck of the draw?"

Ramsey stayed silent still.

"How about the rape?" Gibbs asked. "Did you plan that too?"

Ramsey looked up at him. "That was consensual." He defended.

Gibbs nodded. "That's not what she says." He told him.

"She's still alive?" Ramsey asked.

Gibbs nodded again. "Yeah, she's still alive. Should make a full recovery too. I'm guessing you didn't mean for that to happen." Gibbs suggested.

Ramsey shook his head. "I was sure she was dead when I-" His eyes went wide and he cut himself off, realizing what he had said.

Tony, Ziva, and McGee exchanged a look behind the glass.

"That was easy." McGee said.

Tony and Ziva nodded in agreement.

"Shortest case ever." Tony said.

"I want a lawyer." Was the next thing to come out of Ramsey's mouth.

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, you're gonna need a good one."

XXXXX

Ziva stepped out of Tony's car on twelfth street. "I am just going to go up and check on Sophie, and then I will head back to the office." She told Tony.

Tony nodded. "Alright. See you later." He told her.

Ziva turned and walked away from Tony's car. She knocked on Sophie's front door, and Tony drove away after she stepped inside.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ziva asked Sophie as they stood in her foyer.

Sophie nodded. "Yeah, just a bit shaken up… When Owen got here he was… crazy, almost. He was yelling and demanding money…" She trailed off. "Did he do that to your face?"

Ziva nodded. "Yes, he did." She told Sophie.

Sophie shook her head. "I am so sorry."

Ziva shrugged. "It looks worse than it is."

Sophie nodded. "Can I get you some tea or something?" She asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "I am fine, I just came to check and make sure you were alright." She told her.

Sophie nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

Ziva smiled a bit. "Of course." She said, reaching back for the doorknob. "If you ever need anything, feel free to call me." She told her.

Sophie nodded. "Thank you, Ziva."

Ziva smiled. "It is no problem. I should get going though, paperwork." She said, gesturing to her face.

XXXXX

The team had spent most of the day catching up on paperwork. They were thankful for this, partly because it meant that they would have less paperwork to catch up on tomorrow, but also because if they didn't get called out, it meant nobody needed their help.

Ziva looked up from the statement she had written about Ramsey's arrest and struggle. She was shocked to see that it was already past eight.

She sighed as she read over the statement once more to make sure everything was accurate before she signed it and stood. She walked over to Gibbs' desk and held it out to him.

Gibbs took it from her and set it to the side. "Why don't you three get out of here?" He asked.

His agents eyed him, confused.

"Seriously. I'll call if I need you." He told them.

Gibbs knew this had been a tough case to be Tony's first case back, and he really didn't want to overwhelm him. He cared about Tony like he would his own son. He wanted to make sure he was alright. He also knew that Tony had therapy on Friday, and he did not want Tony to feel embarrassed for asking for the time off.

He wanted Ziva to rest after the knock to the head Ramsey had managed to land on her. He knew she would insist that she was fine, but the right side of her face was purple, and even Ziva couldn't completely mask the pain she felt whenever she spoke.

McGee had been the superhero when Tony and Ziva were off, he did the work of two and a half people for two months, considering Hawkins was almost no help. And he had just spent the last seventy-two hours awake with Gibbs, trying to track down Ramsey. Gibbs knew that McGee was exhausted. He knew his team, and as long as they didn't have a case, he didn't mind giving them a day to rest and recuperate after a tough one.

"Are you sure?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs looked up at her from his spot in his chair. "Yeah, go. Get out of here." He told them.

Tony and McGee shot confused looks toward each other, but nonetheless, reached for their computer's power buttons and their jackets.

Ziva grabbed her own jacket off of the back of her chair slowly. They were all watching Gibbs, almost waiting to feel the sharpness of his hand on the backs of their heads.

They grabbed their bags, still watching Gibbs silently. Gibbs stood suddenly and they prepared to drop their bags.

They were surprised when Gibbs reached for his own jacket.

Gibbs looked around at them. "Well go, or do you want me to change my mind?" He asked quickly.

Tony, Ziva, and McGee shook their heads no.

"Thanks Boss." Tony and McGee said in unison.

McGee hurried out of the squad room, followed by Tony, pulling a still slightly confused and concerned Ziva by the hand.

They stepped into the elevator and the doors slid shut.

"What just happened?" Ziva asked.

Tony shook his head. "Don't ask questions, he said he'll call if he needs us."

Ziva nodded. "Alright."

XXXXX

Tony walked into the bedroom that night to find Ziva curled up against the headboard, journal in her lap once more.

He sat down on his side of the bed, watching her for a moment.

"How come I've never seen you write before? Did you just start?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "I have kept journals since I was a teenager." She told him. "And you have never seen me write because I have never _let_ you, before now."

Tony nodded. "When did you do it? Like have you kept writing since I moved in?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, I used to do it more, before you were here, but now I mostly do it when you are asleep." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Wow. I never even noticed." He told her honestly.

Ziva smiled. "That was the point." She told him.

Tony laughed lightly. "What do you write about?"

Ziva shrugged. "Everything. Cases, people, situations, nightmares…" She listed.

Tony smirked. "Do you write about me?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes."

Tony wiggled his eyebrows. "And what does the writer, miss David write about this fine gentleman?" He asked.

Ziva laughed. "Maybe I will let you read it some time." She told him. She surprised herself when she said it, and she was even more surprised when she realized that she meant it. She wanted Tony to know her, and she really didn't have any negative feelings surrounding the thought of Tony reading her journals.

Tony smiled a bit. "I would like that." He told her honestly.

Ziva nodded and looked back down at her page. She finished her sentence off quickly and closed the book. She dropped it into the drawer of her bedside table and settled back into the bed beside Tony.

"I brought you this." Tony told her, holding a cold pack wrapped in a towel out to her for her cheek.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you." She said, pressing the soothing coolness against her face. She laid her head on Tony's shoulder and he turned off the light.

"How's the cheek feel?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "It does not hurt as much as it did this morning. I think I am just getting used to the pain though." She told her boyfriend.

Tony squeezed her. "Not a good thing, but I guess as long as it isn't as painful…" He trailed off.

Ziva nodded. "I will be fine Tony, it is just a bump." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I know, I just care." He told her.

Ziva lifted her head off his shoulder to kiss his cheek softly. "I know you do. And I love you for it." She told him.

Tony smiled. "I love you too." He told her. "Come on, sleep is calling." He told her, bringing his free hand up to rub at his own eyes.

Ziva nodded. "Goodnight." She said softly.

Tony kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Zi."


	8. Chapter 8

_Here's chapter 8! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!_

* * *

 _ **Eight**_

Tony's eyes opened the next morning and he reached over to grab his phone. He smiled. 07:30, November 12. He looked over at Ziva, who seemed to be in a deep sleep.

He put his phone back down on the bedside table and he moved the comforter to the side. He slid out of bed as quietly and carefully as he could. He didn't want to wake Ziva.

He walked over to his stack of laundry baskets in the corner of the room and pulled out a clean pair of sweats and his Ohio State hoodie and pulled them on quickly. He turned to walk out the door and thought better of it. He tip-toed back to Ziva's side of the bed and found a scrap piece of paper and a pen, to write her a note in case she woke up while he was gone:

I just went out to get a few things, I'll be right back, don't worry. Happy birthday Zi.

He laid the pen and paper back on the table quietly and made his way out of the apartment.

XXXXX

Tony was relieved to see that in the twenty minutes it had taken him to get to Grinder's, wait for his order, and walk back, Ziva had not woken up yet.

He sat down on his side of the bed and was surprised when Ziva's eyes popped open.

She looked up at him, and she was a bit confused. Why was he already dressed? Had Gibbs called? Had she missed it? She sat up.

"What happened?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "Nothing. How's your head?" He asked.

Ziva shrugged. "It feels fine, just a bit tender." She told him.

Tony peeled off his sweater before he reached over to the bedside table and pulled a to go cup out of the tray and handed it to her.

Ziva took the cup gratefully and took a small sip. "Black cherry hot chocolate?" She asked, surprised.

Tony nodded. "And one of these." He said as he handed her a chocolate croissant, topped with almonds. "Happy birthday."

Ziva smiled. "You did not have to do this Tony." She told him.

Tony leaned back against the headboard and pulled his own cup of hot chocolate out of the tray.

"I wanted to." He told her.

Ziva smiled brightly and sat back beside Tony, resting against him. Tony wrapped his arm around him and pulled her close to him.

He smiled as he watched her eat her croissant, he knew that chocolate almond was her favorite. It was nice to see her so… he couldn't even figure out the word. Content, happy, peaceful. He loved watching her.

She popped the last bite into her mouth and tossed her arm over his chest.

"Thank you." She said, kissing his cheek softly.

Tony smiled and turned his head to capture her lips with his own.

"I have a present for you." He told her.

Ziva sat up. "What? You did not have to get me anything, this is perfect." She told him.

Tony smiled and set his cup down on the bedside table. He climbed off the side of the bed and knelt down on the floor, reaching to feel around under the bed.

Ziva was shocked when he pulled out a large, wrapped rectangle, about the size of her torso.

He sat down on the bed and held it out to her.

She shook her head. "This is too much, Tony, I-"

Tony interrupted her. "Just open it." He told her, reaching out to take her cup from her.

Ziva looked up at him unsurely and he nodded once more before she tore into the corner of the yellow wrapping paper.

She managed to get most of it unwrapped and Tony took the garbage off the bed before she realized that it was a picture frame.

She flipped it over and tears sprung to her eyes when she saw the photo of her family. Her mother and father were sitting in lawn chairs, with Tali on Eli's lap as Ziva hugged Ari tightly on the ground, it looked like she had tackled him.

She looked up at Tony. "Where did you get this?" She asked.

Tony smiled a bit. "I might have taken your phone a few weeks ago to call aunt Nettie."

Ziva laughed. "Of course." She said as she looked over the picture.

Tony nodded. "I asked her if she had any of all of you. I thought maybe we could hang it up in the living room."

Ziva smiled. "This is from my fifteenth birthday." She told Tony. "I have never seen this photo, but I remember the moment."

"What was it?" Tony asked.

Ziva laughed. "Ari had given me tickets to see my favorite band. Well one ticket, and he kept the other for himself. He was about to go into the army, and I wanted to do something with him before he did." She told him, wiping a tear off her cheek.

Tony smiled. "It sounds like he was a good brother." He said.

Ziva looked up at him, a bit surprised at the compliment. She knew how Tony felt about her brother. He had killed Tony's friend.

Tony noted her reaction and reached toward her, resting his hand on her knee gently.

"I don't hate him." He told her.

"Really?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "I hate what he did, and what he became, but I know that before all of that he was just your big brother, and you loved him, and from the looks of that picture, he loved you too. I can't hate him for that." He told her.

Ziva stood and walked across the room to put the large picture frame on her dresser before she returned to the bed.

Tony leaned back against the headboard once more and she rested against his chest. He kissed the top of her head gently.

"Tell me about them." He requested.

Ziva looked up at him. "What do you want to know?" She asked.

Tony smiled. "Everything, I want to know about all of them, including Ari. I don't want you to be afraid to talk about him with me. It's okay." He reassured her.

Ziva nodded. "Alright."

She took a sip of her hot chocolate, trying to sort out her thoughts.

"Ari was two years older than me, and he lived with his mother most of the time. We were in the same town though, so we spent a lot of time together, and we were all very close." Ziva started.

"What was his mother's name?" Tony asked.

"Hasmia." Ziva told him. "She was a Palestinian woman from Jerusalem."

"Keep going." Tony urged.

Ziva smiled. "I do not know what to say. Ari was very… clever, and witty when he was young, well he was when he got older too. He was very protective of Tali and me. Mostly Tali." She said with a laugh.

"She was the baby." Tony said.

Ziva nodded against his chest. "I remember one time, when we were all still in the same school, I was nine, which would have made Ari eleven, and Tali maybe six or seven, it was her first year at school, one of the boys in her class was making fun of her for something, I do not even remember what, and she told Ari."

Tony winced. "Bad thing to do, messing with the David's." He said.

"Ari told the boy to knock it off, and he ran and told his older brother, who happened to be in Ari's class." Ziva shook her head. "It caused so much… I suppose drama is the word I am looking for… Anyway, the older brother confronted Ari, and he insulted Tali. Ari wouldn't use violence against someone younger, or smaller than him, but he had absolutely no problem going after someone his own size. He beat up the older brother and was suspended from school for two weeks." Ziva told him.

Tony laughed lightly. "And what happened to the other boys?" He asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I do not remember." She told him. "But Tali was never picked on again."

This made Tony laugh a bit harder. "So definitely a good big brother." He said.

Ziva nodded. "He was. He and I were also close. When we were young, we would spend hours exploring our father's property. And when we got older, after he went into the army and we did not see each other as often, when we did see each other, we would just walk around and talk. About everything."

Tony smiled. "That sounds nice." He told her. "You said that his mother was a Palestinian woman, was she Muslim?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "She was, yes."

"But Ari was Jewish? How…?" He asked slowly.

Ziva smiled. "He converted when he was ten. He went through the entire process, and he loved every minute of it." She told him proudly.

"And his mother was okay with it?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "She was. She fully accepted it. My parents invited her to Shabbat when Ari was with my father, and she did most of the planning for his Bar Mitzvah, which was _Jaws_ themed by the way. It was his favorite movie." She told him.

Tony laughed. "That's actually pretty great. Was it fun?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Surprisingly it was. He fell almost every five minutes, it did not matter what he was doing, walking, dancing, running, he always seemed to end up on the floor."

Tony chucked. "Which is weird considering he became Mossad." He said.

Ziva laughed lightly. "I used to joke that the army had made him a tightrope walker. He was never clumsy on an op. In a safehouse alone he broke almost every dish in the cupboards, but he was incredibly skilled when he needed to be." She said.

"And he never learned how to tie a tie." Tony mentioned.

Ziva nodded, smiling. "No, he did not." She said, shaking her head.

Tony smiled.

"I think, maybe if you had met him when he was younger, you would have liked him. He was very fun-loving when he was young. He was a lot like you. His mother's death changed that." Ziva told him.

"I like him, the way that you describe him." Tony told her. "I know he wasn't always what he became in the end."

Ziva nodded silently.

"What about Tali?" Tony asked.

Ziva's smiled returned to her face as she remembered her little sister.

"She was completely different than the rest of my family. Well maybe not completely." Ziva said. "She loved to perform and be on stage. She loved classical music. She was talented."

Tony smiled. "She didn't want to be Mossad?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head. "She was looking forward to doing her time in the army, she wanted to serve her country, but then she wanted to get some sort of a degree in music."

"Wow." Was all Tony could think to say.

Ziva nodded. "When she died… we were devastated. I was nineteen, and Ari was twenty-one. It was the year after my mother died… we were lost without them."

Tony nodded. "That's understandable. I remember losing my mom… I've never felt anything that could compare to that day." He told Ziva.

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "I am sorry." She told him.

He shook his head. "Keep going."

Ziva nodded. "After Tali died, Ari and I used to visit her every chance we had, and we always went to sit with her to celebrate her birthday, with red velvet cake. It was her favorite." She told him.

"When was her birthday?" Tony asked.

"November twenty-fourth." Ziva said.

Tony smiled. "Your birthdays were only a week apart?" He said.

Ziva nodded. "And my mother's birthday was November thirtieth."

Tony smiled. "What was her name?" He asked.

Ziva smiled. "Rivka. She was… amazing."

Tony nodded silently, giving her the chance to continue.

"She served four years in the army, we are only required to do two, and then she became a teacher." Ziva told him.

"How long were you in the army?" He asked.

"Two years, I volunteered for Mossad after my mandatory time was up." Ziva said.

Tony nodded. "What did your mother teach?" He asked.

"History, and music." Ziva told him.

"So she never wanted to be Mossad?" Tony asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "Not even a little bit." She said.

Tony nodded. "So Tali took after your mother more than your father."

Ziva nodded. "Definitely." She said. "My mother was always very family oriented, she loved to be around her family, like Tali. Especially on Shabbat and holidays." Ziva said.

Tony smiled. "That sounds nice."

Ziva nodded. "It was. We would come home from school on Friday and the first thing we smelled when we opened the door was fresh Challah." She said. "It was her own recipe, and it was amazing."

"I've never had it." He said.

Ziva smiled. "Maybe I will make it for you one day." She told him. "She always made Challah for Shabbat. We really were not the most observant family, we believed in God and everything, but most holidays and Shabbat were just about family for us. And sometimes the routines were comforting."

Tony nodded. "That makes sense. I like that though, the family aspect, that's something that a lot of people don't think about on holidays. It just seems like a day off work here."

Ziva nodded. "To my mother everything was about family. She was very… mama hare?" Ziva said. "Very protective of us, and Ari."

Tony laughed. "Mama bear. Hare's are big rabbits." He reminded her.

Ziva smiled. "Right." She said. "She also taught me and Ari how to drive."

Tony rolled his eyes playfully. "You mean there were more people in the world who drove like you?" He asked.

Ziva laughed. "At least two."

"What about your father? What was he like before he became director of Mossad?" Tony asked.

Ziva smiled softly. "Kind. He was always Mossad, since before I was born, so he was away for long stretches at a time, but when he was home he was just my father. He was happy, and kind. He was one of my favorite people." She said.

"And now?" Tony asked.

Ziva sighed. "He is my father, and I love him. But I do not trust him… he has… betrayed me, too many times. I cannot do it again." She told him sadly.

Tony hugged her tightly. "He doesn't deserve you." He told her, kissing her forehead lightly.

Ziva tightened her grip on him. "Thank you." She said softly. "For the photo. And for letting me talk about them."

Tony smiled. "You can always talk to me Zi, about anything."

Ziva nodded against him. "Alright."

XXXXX

Tony sat down in his usual spot in Paige's office that afternoon and leaned back against the chair.

Paige closed the door and sat back down at her desk.

"How was your first week back at work?" Paige asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "Exhausting." He told her.

Paige nodded. "That's understandable."

Tony shrugged. "I guess. It was mostly paperwork. I think Ziva had a tougher time than I did." He told her.

Paige nodded. "I saw her in the waiting room, what happened?" She asked.

Tony sighed. "She was making an arrest, and the guy slipped out of the cuffs, he hit her."

Paige winced. "How have you been doing on desk duty?" She asked.

"I hate it." Tony told her blankly.

Paige nodded. "I don't doubt it, but we both know that you aren't ready to be back in the field." She said.

Tony nodded. "I'm not claiming I am, I just don't like seeing Ziva… I don't like seeing any of my team get hurt."

"Sometimes it's unavoidable. You have a dangerous job, accidents happen." Paige said.

Tony shrugged. "I guess."

"What do you feel like you could do to protect them?" Paige asked.

Tony shrugged, staying silent.

"Do you trust your team to protect you?" Paige asked.

"Of course I do." Tony said quickly.

Paige nodded. "Then take a deep breath and try and let yourself trust them to protect each other. I know it's hard not being there right now, but you will get back there eventually." She told Tony.

Tony nodded. "I know." He said softly. "I'll try. But I won't like it."

XXXXX

Ziva led Tony down the hallway to their apartment that afternoon. She picked her house key out of her keyring and slid it into the lock.

She pushed open the door and she was immediately enveloped in the warm scent of roast beef and Abby, McGee, Gibbs, Ducky, Jimmy, and Breena sitting in the living room, waiting for them.

Abby smiled brightly and ran over to Ziva as she stepped into the apartment.

"Happy birthday!" Abby exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Ziva tightly.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you." She said as Abby released her.

"There's a roast in the oven, it's almost done, and we've got potatoes, corn, carrots, and of course there will be gravy." Abby listed.

"That sounds perfect Abby. Is there anything I can do to help?" Ziva asked as she took off her coat and shoes.

Abby shook her head. "Not on your birthday."

This made everyone laugh a bit.

"Alright then." Ziva said.

She spotted her hammer on the coffee table and eyed it curiously before looking around the room to see what they could possibly have needed it for.

She smiled when she saw the large photo that Tony had given her that morning hung up on the wall across from the couch.

She turned around to Tony, who was leaning back against the closed door.

"You did this?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Left the picture out for Gibbs to hang before we left, gave my key to Abby yesterday, sent McGee shopping earlier, Ducky brought wine, Jimmy made desert, and Breena offered clean up." He told her, unable to keep the proud smile off his face because he had managed to keep this a secret the past few weeks.

Ziva turned back to look at her team, her family, who were all sitting, smiling brightly toward her.

"You did not have to do all of this." She told them as she walked toward them. She sat down with Tony on the floor in front of the coffee table, across from Ducky, Jimmy, and Breena on the couch.

"We know." McGee said.

The rest of the team nodded their agreement.

Ziva smiled a bit as the conversations began to pick up again. She leaned against Tony, who wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple softly.

Abby stood from her chair and walked into the kitchen. Ziva listened carefully, trying to extend her hearing to Abby's movements, in case she needed help.

"Roast is done!" Abby called triumphantly. "Give me ten minutes and we'll have gravy!"

XXXXX

"That was amazing Abby, thank you." Ziva said honestly as she put her empty plate down on the coffee table beside Tony's.

Abby smiled. "If there was one thing Grammy Sciuto could do, it was cook a roast." She said.

"She did it well if it tasted anything like yours." Tony told her.

Ten minutes later, Jimmy and Breena collected the empty plates and retreated into the kitchen.

"How long have you been planning this?" Ziva asked Tony.

Tony shrugged, looking at Abby and McGee. "Two weeks? Maybe three?" He guessed.

McGee nodded. "Seems about right."

"I think the better question is how did you keep it a secret?" Ducky asked.

Tony laughed. "I can keep a secret. I know some pretty good ones." He defended playfully, which made everyone, including Gibbs, laugh.

Breena poked her head around the corner from the kitchen and nodded, and Ziva watched as Abby pulled a digital camera out of the bag that had been sitting in front of the couch.

Ziva was surprised as a spirited rendition of 'Happy Birthday' suddenly spilled out of her co-workers.

She laughed, which hurt her face a bit, but it was worth it as she watched Jimmy Palmer walking toward her, carrying a homemade chocolate birthday cake, with a '28' candle stuck in the centre of it.

Jimmy set the cake down in front of Ziva as their song ended and she smiled brightly, thinking for a second before she blew out the candles.

The team broke out in a round of applause and Ziva shook her head, laughing. This was absolutely ridiculous, but she loved every second of it.

"What did you wish for?" Tony asked from his spot on the floor behind her, his arms still wrapped around her waist.

"This." She told him, resting her hands over top of his.

He smiled and tightened his grip on her momentarily.

Jimmy handed Ziva the first piece of cake on a small plate with a fork.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you." She said, taking the plate from him.

She dug her fork into the cake and took a bite. She let out a small moan of approval when she tasted the rich chocolate.

"This is the best chocolate cake I have ever had." Ziva told Jimmy honestly.

Jimmy blushed. "Thanks… it's an original recipe." He told her as he handed out cake to the rest of the team.

Ziva smiled. "I did not know you could bake."

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, I got into it in high school. Wanted to be a pastry chef for a little while. I practiced a lot."

"And your practice paid off mister Palmer!" Ducky said from his seat on the couch. "This is delicious!"

This only made Jimmy blush more, which the team found entertaining.

Breena finished off her small piece of cake quickly and waited patiently for the rest of the group to finish before she stood, collecting the plates. Ziva stood up to help her.

Breena smiled as she watched Ziva. "You sit. Let me do my job." She said, pointing Ziva back to where she had been sitting with Tony.

Ziva shook her head. "No, I can't, you are a guest here, I can do the dishes." She insisted.

Jimmy looked between the two most stubborn women he had ever met, wondering how this would end.

Breena's eyes narrowed. She was determined to let Ziva relax. She knew the other woman must be in pain, the bruises on her face told her that much, and besides, it was Ziva's birthday.

Breena watched Ziva carefully for a moment. "Will you let me wash the dishes if I let you take them into the kitchen?" She asked.

Ziva smiled a bit, knowing that Breena wasn't going to give up. She knew she liked her for a reason.

"Deal." Ziva said before she bent down to collect the plates from the coffee table.

She carried them into the kitchen and scraped them off quickly before Breena managed to shoo her out of the room.

XXXXX

Four hours later the dishes were long done, and sat air drying in the dish tray, Ziva insisted that Breena had done enough, she could handle putting the dishes away in the morning.

The team had started to slowly trickle out, with Ducky, McGee, and Abby leaving first, each hugged Tony and Ziva warmly and wished Ziva happy birthday once more before they headed out the door.

Gibbs pulled on his jacket and hugged Ziva tightly. He kissed her forehead gently.

"Happy birthday Ziver." He said softly.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you."

Gibbs smiled and pulled Tony into a quick hug. "I'll see you both at work Monday." He told them before he walked out the door.

Finally, Jimmy and Breena were the last ones pulling on their coats and boots.

Breena stood patiently waiting for Jimmy.

"I put all the leftovers in plastic containers in the fridge, it looks like there's enough to last for about two days, and I really wish you would let me put those dishes away." Breena snuck in.

Ziva laughed. "Not a chance." She told Breena. She turned around to look at Jimmy. "Get her out of here before she tries to find my vacuum." She told him playfully.

Jimmy laughed and shuffled past Ziva. He reached out and turned Breena around and rested both hands on her shoulders as he pushed her out the door jokingly.

"See you guys later." Jimmy said as he ushered his girlfriend down the hall.

"Happy birthday!" Breena called back before Ziva shut the door.

XXXXX

Tony pulled back the comforter on Ziva's side of the bed, so she could crawl into it easily when she came in.

Ziva settled into the bed and sat back against the headboard. She picked up the bottle of water on her nightstand and unscrewed the cap.

"I think I'm ready." Tony said suddenly.

"Ready for what?" Ziva asked before taking a sip of her water.

"Sex." Tony said simply.

Ziva choked on her water. Tony reached out to take the bottle out of her hands and screw the cap back on before he dropped it onto the nightstand. Ziva looked over at him, taking a deep breath.

Tony laughed lightly. "You seem surprised."

Ziva nodded. "I am." She told him honestly.

"I don't mean like right this second, I just want you to know that the option is there." Tony said.

Ziva sat back against the headboard. "Alright…"

Tony reached out to take her hand. "Zi, look at me." He said softly.

Ziva turned to look at him unsurely.

"What're you thinking?" He asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I… I do not know."

Tony nodded. "C'mere." He said, opening his arms to her.

Ziva slid closer to him and leaned into him. She wrapped one arm around his waist and laid her head on his chest.

"I don't want sex right now." He told her firmly. "I think we should talk about it first, as awkward as that'll be."

Ziva nodded. "I agree."

Tony's arms tightened around her. "You're in control."

Ziva shook her head. "No."

Tony looked down at her. "No?" He asked.

Ziva nodded, sitting up. She turned to face him. "Sex is something that we do together Tony. We have equal say in what happens. If one of us wants to stop, we stop." She said firmly.

Tony nodded. "I know Zi." He said softly. "I just mean, and I know you don't want to hear it, but what happened to me was… nothing, compared to what you went through, and-"

Ziva cut him off. "Tony-"

Tony held his hand up to stop her. "Okay, I know, I know, don't compare traumas, I get it. But you're scared Zi. I know it, I can see it in your face… you're not that hard to read…" He told her. "You're scared to have someone, or something inside you." He said bluntly.

Ziva nodded silently.

"I would be too Zi." He said softly, pulling her into his lap.

Ziva wrapped her arms around his neck. "You are scared too."

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, I am. But not the same way you are. I'm not scared of you having something inside me, cause I'm fairly certain that's not gonna happen with you. I'm scared that I'll hurt you somehow, or that I'll… I don't know… I'm scared, but not like you are."

Ziva nodded. "I trust you Tony." She said softly. "I know you will not hurt me." She told him.

Tony pulled her close to him. "I trust you too Zi, more than anyone."

Ziva smiled softly and sat up straight. She watched his face silently for a moment before she leaned in to press her lips against his gently.

She pulled away a moment later, resting her forehead against his. "You have just as much right to say no as I do, you know that right?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "I know."

"And you know that if you do not like something, you can tell me, and we can move on, no awkwardness, right?"

Tony pressed his lips against hers once more. "I know." He said as their mouths parted.

Ziva nodded. "I want to try." She told him.

"What like now?" Tony asked.

Ziva laughed lightly. "Not if you don't want to, just soon." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I can live with soon." He said.

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "Okay." She said simply.

Tony shut off the lamp on the nightstand and settled in beside Ziva. They slid closer to each other, and wrapped their arms around each other, unsure of who was holding who at this point.

"Thank you, for today… it was the best birthday I have had in a really long time." Ziva told him.

Tony smiled. "I'm glad you had a good day. I plan to make every birthday special." He told her. "And every other day too."

"Every day is already special Tony. I get to be here, holding you, being held by you… that is all I have wanted since I met you." Ziva told him honestly.

Tony's grip on her tightened as he pulled her impossibly closer.

"I love you." He told her simply.

Ziva smiled. "I love you too." She said, kissing his forehead softly. "Goodnight love." Ziva said, already beginning to feel drowsy.

Tony sighed contently against her. "Goodnight Zi. Happy birthday."


	9. Chapter 9

_Hi! I am so sorry this took so long to post! It took so long to write for some reason, I don't know, I just have not been able to really get into writing for the last little while, but I think I am back now, so updates should start coming sooner!_

 _Anyway, here is chapter 9, I hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

 _ **Nine**_

A scream tore Tony from his sleep and his eyes flew open. He saw Ziva, sitting up on her side of the bed with her head in her hands, panting.

He sat up and moved to sit beside her.

"Are you alright Zi?" He asked softly.

Ziva shook her head.

"Can I touch you?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded, and Tony reached out to rest his hand on her back gently, testing her reactions. Ziva leaned into Tony quickly and he wrapped his arms around her tightly while she cried.

Tony kissed the top of her head gently. "It's alright Zi. You're safe sweetheart, everything is okay. Just try to breathe." He told her softly.

It had been a while since she had had a nightmare that woke him up like that, and it had startled him a bit. Usually if she had a nightmare, she woke up, probably wrote about it for a little while, and then woke Tony up, because she promised that she would. She was usually fairly calm when she chose to wake him.

He brought his hand up to stroke her hair gently as he rocked her.

She managed to get her breathing under control within a few minutes, and soon her head was resting on Tony's shoulder, and she was only sniffling.

Tony kissed her forehead. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head. "Not particularly. But I should." She told him, her voice was small, and he didn't like that.

Tony pulled the blankets up to cover them both and he leaned back against the headboard and pulled Ziva onto his lap.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Do you want to just write for a bit?" He asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I just want you." She told him quietly.

Tony nodded. He knew exactly the feeling that she was describing. It was what he had felt in the emergency room after his own attack, but he was not sure how to put it into words. He just wanted her to be there. She made him stronger, and braver.

Ziva sat with him, silent for a few minutes before she decided to speak.

"The first time it happened… it was the day after I was captured. Saleem had beaten me, and he had taken all of my clothes, to make sure I did not try to run. I remember laying on the floor, it was cold, even for Africa, and I must have blacked out, because when I woke up again there were three men standing in the room, watching me. I guess they were instructed to wait for Saleem… he came in, and he lowered his zipper…" She trailed off.

Tony pulled her tighter against him. "You don't have to tell me." He told her.

"I want to. I need to." She said softly. "I fought back, and his men held me down while he beat me again, and he raped me… and because I tried to fight… he told me that I would be sorry, and he was right. I was. He finished, and he left the room, but he did not take his men with him." She told him. "They took turns with me… and that was only the beginning. I do not even know how many different men Saleem allowed into my cell… I remember them all. All of their faces, their smells, their voices…"

Tony had to blink to fight the tears in his own eyes as she spoke. He was glad that they were all dead. He didn't care if it made him a horrible person. He was happy that the monsters who tortured the woman he loved were dead. He wasn't sorry about it.

He brought his hand up to cup her uninjured cheek gently, tilting her head to look at him.

He kissed her softly.

"I love you. Nothing you tell me will change that." He told her.

Ziva nodded silently. "Thank you for listening." She said softly.

Tony hugged her tightly. "I'll always be here."

Ziva nodded. "I know you will. That is why I love you." She told him.

Tony smiled. "Do you want to write a bit, or do you wanna try and get a bit more sleep?" He asked.

Ziva sighed. "Sleeping would probably be better.." She trailed off.

"But?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "Maybe I will just write for a few minutes." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Okay. Do you want me to go? Do you want some tea or something? I think we still have chamomile." He said.

Ziva shook her head, tightening her arms around him. "Please stay." She said quietly.

Tony nodded. "Okay." He said softly.

Ziva reached over to her bedside table to grab the journal she was currently working in and settled back on Tony's lap. She leaned against him and opened her book to start writing.

Tony was surprised. He had expected her to move back to her side of the bed. Instead she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder and started to write. He was unsure where to look. He did not want to intrude on her private thoughts by watching her write, so he settled for closing his eyes and resting his head back against the headboard with his arms wrapped tightly around Ziva.

He must have drifted off, because when his eyes opened again, Ziva was just closing her journal.

"Sleep?" Ziva asked, leaning back to place the journal on Tony's bedside table instead of her own.

Tony nodded. "You okay?" He asked.

Ziva kissed him gently. "Much better than I was." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Alright. Come on then." He said, shifting on the bed so he could lay back down comfortably.

Ziva laid down beside him and rested her head on the pillow beside his.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"I love you." He said softly.

Ziva smiled a bit. "I love you too."

XXXXX

Ziva groaned when the sun hit her eyes through the blinds on Sunday morning. Her eyes squeezed shut and she rolled over to face Tony. She opened her eyes and she was a bit surprised to see Tony's eyes open.

"Good morning." He said happily.

Ziva smiled a bit and tilted her head up to kiss him gently. "Good morning."

"How're you feeling?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "Better." She told him simply.

Tony nodded. "And how does that feel?" He asked, referring to her injured cheek. It looked better than it had on Friday. The swelling had gone down almost entirely, and it had turned from a dark purple color to a greenish color.

Ziva shrugged. It was tender from sleeping on it all night, which she hadn't consciously done, but still.

"It is okay." She told him. It wasn't a complete lie.

Tony raised his eyebrow. "Mhm. I hope you know that you are going to spend the day relaxing before we have to go back to work tomorrow."

"I was just planning to put away those dishes and go pick up some groceries." Ziva told him.

Tony shook his head. "Nope. Not today. Today you relax and rest that head of yours." He said, kissing her forehead gently. "And you're going to start with a fresh cold pack on your face."

"I am fine Tony, really." She told him.

Tony sat up. "I'll be right back. You don't move." He insisted.

Ziva laughed lightly and laid down on her back as she watched him walk out of the bedroom.

He came back a few moments later with a cold pack wrapped in a cloth in one hand, and the almost empty bottle of aloe gel in the other.

"We're gonna have to stock up on this stuff if we keep getting bruised up like this." He told her as he handed her the cold pack for her cheek.

She took the cold pack and rested it on her cheek gently, letting out a content sigh when it cooled the dull ache that she felt.

"Leave that on for a few minutes, and then we'll do some of this." Tony said, holding up the aloe.

Ziva nodded. "Alright." She said simply.

Tony sat beside Ziva for a few minutes, playing with her hair silently. Ziva smiled, feeling her body relax as Tony's hands brushed over her scalp.

"Aloe?" Ziva asked a few minutes later, when the ache in her face had dulled to barely noticeable.

Tony nodded and reached over to the bedside table. He popped the lid open on the botte and poured some of the gel onto his fingertips.

"Tell me if it hurts." He told her.

Ziva nodded and laid still. She jumped a bit when Tony made contact with her cheek, but she relaxed quickly when she felt the cool gel soaking into her skin.

Tony wiped his hands on a tissue and closed the aloe bottle, tossing it to the side for later.

"Let that dry for a bit and then put the cold pack back on." He told her.

Ziva nodded and laid back down on the bed, resting her head on his leg.

Tony smiled softly as he watched her rest against him, completely relaxed, with her eyes closed.

Ziva pressed the cold pack back against her cheek after a few minutes.

Tony ran his hand through her curls gently. It still almost amazed him that she was here with him like this. He thought that it might never happen, but he was impossibly happy that it had.

XXXXX

When Ziva's eyes opened again, she was still lying in bed, her head on Tony's knee. She turned her head to look up at him.

Tony laughed lightly. "Good morning sleeping beauty." He joked.

Ziva smiled a bit. "What time is it?" She asked.

Tony looked over at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

"Just after eleven." He told her.

Ziva's eyes widened. "What? How? I was not even tired." She told him.

Tony nodded. "You must've been more tired than you thought. That was a pretty solid two-hour nap."

Ziva nodded. "Have I been sleeping on you the whole time? Obviously I have." She said as she realized there was no way for her head to get from Tony's knee to the pillow and back again.

Tony laughed, running his fingers over her scalp. "Yeah, you were. I don't mind." He told her.

Ziva nodded silently, closing her eyes once more as Tony's fingers moved through her hair. Now she understood how she fell asleep again.

She shook her head a bit. "I am awake." She said, sitting up. She spotted the cold pack sitting beside her on the bed, almost definitely warm by now.

Tony leaned forward to kiss her gently. "I meant what I said earlier." He told her.

"What was that?" Ziva asked.

"That you are relaxing all day." He told her firmly. "And now that you're awake, you'e gonna start with a nice warm bath." He told her as he hooked one arm around her legs and the other around her waist, scooping her up off the bed. Ziva laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He carried her into the bathroom and set her down on the counter.

"You seem to enjoy carrying me like that." Ziva said playfully.

Tony kissed her. "Absolutely."

He walked toward the large tub and leaned over, turning the taps on, adjusting them to the temperature he knew Ziva liked. He pushed the plug into the drain and stood up.

He walked back to stand in front of her on the counter. He reached for a hair elastic on the counter.

Ziva smiled and her eyes closed when Tony started to brush her hair back into a ponytail. It was startling the first few times he had done this, but now she was beginning to recognize the feeling she got when he did little things like this for her. His tenderness as he tied up her hair almost made her cry. She felt loved.

Tony secured her hair in the elastic and let it fall from his hands. He wrapped his arms around Ziva's waist gently, smiling when he felt her arms snake around his neck. They sat there silently, foreheads rested against each other, perfectly content to just be together.

Ziva's eyes shifted from Tony's a few minutes later. "The tub is almost full." She warned him.

Tony let out a small sigh and released his hold on his girlfriend to tend to the bath. He turned off the taps and dipped his hand into the water to check the temperature. He dried his hand off and offered it to Ziva.

Ziva smiled brightly, taking his hand as she slid off the counter.

Tony bowed deeply. "M'lady." He said with a thick British accent.

Ziva laughed. "Why thank you." She said as she stepped into the warm water that filled the tub.

She sank down into it slowly, leaving enough room for Tony to climb in and sit down behind her.

He released her hand and stood up. "I'll be right back." He told her.

"Where are you going?" Ziva asked, confused.

"Just to the kitchen, I'll be two minutes." He told her.

Ziva nodded and leaned back against the wall of the tub, letting her eyes close slowly.

She heard Tony walk out of the room and close the door behind him. She tried her best to hear what he was doing, but she couldn't quite make out any sounds.

She jumped a bit when the door opened suddenly a few minutes later.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Tony said. "Here." He offered her a bottle of water and two Tylenol tablets.

Ziva took them gratefully and set the bottle of water down beside the tub.

"Now are you coming in?" She asked.

"If you want me to." Tony said.

Ziva nodded and sat forward for him.

Tony smiled a bit and stepped into the tub, sitting down behind Ziva. She leaned back against him comfortably and he wrapped his arms around her waist, letting his fingers brush over her the tops of her hip bones lightly.

Ziva let out a small laugh and she grabbed Tony's hands and held them against her body as his fingers brushed across her lower stomach, tickling her.

Tony chuckled, tilting his head down to kiss her neck.

"I didn't know you were ticklish." He said quietly, flexing his fingers underneath her hands.

Ziva pressed her hands onto his harder as she squirmed under his fingertips.

"It does not happen often." She told him, laughing a bit.

Tony smiled. "Uh huh, sure it doesn't." He said playfully.

He relaxed his hands against Ziva, and her grip loosened as she relaxed back against him.

"What groceries were you planning to get?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I am not sure. Just some basic things, we are almost out of everything." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Okay, how about you make me a list in a little while and I'll go, so you can stay here and relax?" Tony asked.

Ziva wanted to argue, she really did feel fine. She had a small headache, and her bruises hurt, but other than that she was okay, but she decided not to.

"Alright." She said simply.

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "Anything I should avoid? You know, you've been here for five years, and I still don't know what you're allergic to?" He said.

Ziva smiled. "I am not allergic to anything, just no pork or shellfish." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I knew that." He told her. "Can I ask you a question?"

Ziva nodded. "Of course." She said, turning her head to look up at him.

"Why don't you keep Kosher?" Tony asked curiously.

Ziva thought for a moment. "I suppose because my parents did not." She told him. "I mean eating Kosher in Israel is much easier than it is here obviously, but we never had Kosher dishes or anything. We were not an Orthodox family. We believed in God, and we were Jewish, we just had a different way of showing it." Ziva explained. She hoped that made sense.

Tony nodded. "It was more about living and believing and less about following every single law." He said.

Ziva nodded. "Exactly. But, that being said, there are things that we absolutely stuck to, such as no pork, no shellfish, I always have my steak well-done. It just does not feel right to eat those things." She told him.

Tony nodded. "That makes sense." He looked down at her when he felt her shudder against him. "You okay?" He asked softly.

Ziva stayed silent. She wasn't really sure what to say.

"Zi?" He asked again.

Ziva looked up at him with tears in her eyes, and Tony's face was immediately full of concern.

"What is it Zi?" He asked softly. "Talk to me princess."

Ziva sniffled. "It is nothing, really…" She trailed off before she decided to keep going. "In Somalia, I did not get much to eat, they only gave me enough to keep me alive." She told him as tears slid down her cheeks.

Tony nodded silently, running soothing circles around her hip bones with his thumbs.

"They wanted to make me feel… dirty, I suppose, or dirtier than I already felt after they," she paused, taking a deep breath, "after they had raped me. It worked. They gave me two meals a day, if you can even call it a meal. It was the same thing every day. Six pieces of bacon and a glass of water for breakfast, and three thick slices of ham with some bread for dinner." She said, lacing her fingers through his and squeezing tightly.

Tony hugged his crying Ziva tightly against his body. "I'm so sorry." He said softly. He wasn't really sure what else to say.

"I do not know why I kept eating it… I did not want to, and I really did not want to live anymore. I have never feared death." She admitted.

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "I think there had to be a reason that you kept eating. You kept yourself alive for something." He told her.

Ziva nodded against him silently and a thought popped into her head.

"It was you." She whispered.

"Huh?" Tony asked, he hadn't been able to make out what she said.

Ziva cleared her throat. "It was you. I was… it sounds stupid, but I was hoping you would come for me. I needed you." She told him.

It was Tony's turn to blink back tears as he held her tightly.

"I'll always find a way to be there." He told her firmly.

Ziva nodded against him. "I believe you."

XXXXX

Ziva pulled the plug out of the drain with her foot and stood up. She stepped out of the tub and grabbed her own towel before holding another one out for Tony to take.

"Thanks." Tony said as he unfolded it.

He dried himself off quickly and wrapped the towel around his waist. "Want me to bring you some clothes?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Please." She said as she shook out her towel and began drying herself off.

Tony nodded and walked out of the bathroom. He walked into the bedroom and picked up his sweatpants and pulled them on. He grabbed a pair of Ziva's pyjama shorts, and a tank top out of her drawer.

He walked back across the hall to the bathroom and held her clothes out to her.

"Thank you." She said as she took them.

Tony smiled and walked out of the bathroom. He walked down the hall and into the kitchen. He pulled out the bag of frozen fruit in the freezer and pulled the lid off of the top of the blender. He dumped some of the fruit into the blender and put it back in the freezer. He opened the fridge and pulled out the almond milk that Ziva liked and poured some of it into the blender before he put the lid back on the blender and hit the start button.

Ziva hung her towel on the hook on the back of the door and reached for her clothes. She pulled them on quickly and looked in the mirror, tightening her ponytail before she reached over to hit the light switch and turn off the fan.

She walked out into the living room and dropped down onto the couch, leaning back against it.

"What are you doing?" She called.

Tony walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch in front of her, holding out a pinkish smoothie to her.

"Here." He said.

"You do not have to wait on me like this Tony, I am fine." Ziva told him.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Just take it Zi. Let me help you today." He told her.

Ziva smiled softly, taking the glass. "Thank you." She said as she took a sip.

Tony smiled as he watched her carefully. She looked a bit more relaxed than she had last night, but he could tell she was still thinking about it.

"I'm gonna grab a pen, and you're going to write down what you want in the vein of groceries." Tony told her.

"I really can go do the groceries Tony I-"

Tony interrupted her. "You're not fine, so don't even try." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "Alright." She said softly, taking another sip of her smoothie.

Tony walked over to the drawer that he knew had the takeout menus in it. He grabbed a pen and a notepad out of the drawer and walked back over to the couch.

"Write." He told Ziva.

Ziva took the pen and paper from him.

"I do not know why you need me to write a list, you have been living here for three months, you know what I usually get." Ziva pointed out.

"I just wanna make sure I get everything you want." He told her.

Ziva smiled softly. "Whatever you get is fine Tony, I am really not picky."

Tony nodded. "Alright." He said.

Ziva tossed the pen and paper onto the coffee table and leaned back against the couch to drink her smoothie.

"Do you want me to go now?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "You can if you want, I do not think time really matters." She told him.

Tony nodded and reached out, tangling his fingers with hers.

"You okay?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "I am fine." She told him.

She leaned forward and put her glass down on the coffee table before she scooted closer to him, kissing him softly.

"I promise, I am okay." Ziva told him.

Tony nodded. "Alright." He said. He looked up at the clock on the wall. "It is almost two, maybe I'll go now and then I'll cook dinner when I get back?" He said.

Ziva nodded. "Alright."

Tony reached up to grab his shirt off of the back of the couch and pulled it over his head and he stood up.

He leaned down to kiss Ziva. "I'll be back." He said as he walked toward the door.

"I will be here. Call if you need anything." Ziva told him.

"I will. Love you." Tony said as he grabbed his car keys and opened the door.

Ziva smiled a bit. "I love you too." She called after him.

XXXXX

Tony opened the apartment door two hours later, carrying at least seven grocery bags. He didn't want to make a second trip down to his car.

He looked around, hoping Ziva would come and take the bag that he had between his teeth. He spotted her on the couch, sleeping peacefully, her journal on the floor. She must have fallen asleep writing.

He closed the door and walked into the kitchen as quietly as he could. He made quick work of putting away the groceries that he had brought home.

He closed the fridge ten minutes later and walked into the living room.

Ziva was still sleeping on the couch. He bent down and picked up her journal off the floor. He re-placed the bookmark on the page that she was working on and closed the book, placing it on the coffee table.

He bent down to kiss her forehead softly and he pulled the blanket down off the back of the couch to cover her up before he walked into the kitchen to start dinner.


	10. Chapter 10

_Okay, this chapter is 100% M-Rated, you have been warned. I felt like this was the right time to add this little nugget of a chapter in, so I hope you enjoy it!_

 _The next few chapters may take me a little longer to write, because – life, but I promise, they will be written as quickly as I can get them done. Now I am actually done rambling, go read the chapter!_

* * *

 _ **Ten**_

Ziva sat down on the couch beside Tony and let out a content sigh, glad she was home with him. Tony had had the afternoon off for therapy with Paige, which left Ziva, Gibbs, and McGee alone in the bullpen to do paperwork.

"How was your appointment?" Ziva asked.

Tony shrugged. "Alright, pretty normal. We mostly just talked about work." He told her.

Tony wrapped his arm around Ziva's shoulders, and she rested her head on his chest. She thought carefully about her next series of movements before she tilted her head up, kissing Tony's neck softly. She waited a moment to gauge his reaction before she did it again.

Tony's hand slid from Ziva's shoulders to her waist and he pulled her closer to him.

Ziva smiled slightly when she felt his grip on her change. She turned in his arms to gain better access as she kissed her way up his neck.

Tony's eyes fluttered shut when he felt Ziva's lips on his neck. His skin tingled every time she touched him.

He gasped when she pulled his earlobe into her mouth, grazing it with her teeth lightly before letting it go. She pulled back completely to look up at him.

"Are you okay?" She asked, bringing one hand to cup his cheek gently.

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "Are you okay if I do this?" She asked, swinging her leg over his to straddle him.

Tony nodded, his hands coming to rest on her hips. "I'm okay. Are you?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "I'm fine." She told him as she leaned down to kiss him.

Tony's fingers tightened on Ziva's hips as they kissed tentatively, and somehow with more passion than either of them had ever felt. Ziva pulled away first, smiling as she leaned down to kiss his neck once more, nibbling on the sensitive patch of skin below his ear.

Ziva could feel the effect she was having on her boyfriend. His breathing sped up, and she could definitely feel him underneath her.

"Bedroom?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Good idea."

Ziva removed herself from Tony's lap and she led him down the hall to their bedroom. He closed the door behind them and pulled Ziva into a hug.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his hair as she pulled his lips to her own.

Tony pulled her tight against him, and Ziva let out a soft moan when she felt him pressing against her. She removed her arms from around Tony's neck long enough to get her shirt off and unbutton his.

Ziva ran her hands over Tony's chest appreciatively. She took great pleasure in watching his muscles jump and twitch under her fingers. She ran her hands up and down his sides for a moment as they kissed before her fingertips dipped just under the waistband of his sweats.

She pulled away from the kiss to look up at Tony.

"Can I touch you?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

Ziva smiled softly, never taking her eyes off his as her hands pushed his pants off his hips. She ran her fingers over his hips and lower stomach for a moment, searching his face for signs of hesitation. She didn't find any.

Tony's eyes fluttered shut once more when he felt her fingertips grazing his erection. He was relieved to know that yes, it did still feel good. Especially when it was Ziva touching him.

Ziva felt a flood of wetness between her legs when she wrapped her fingers around Tony's hardened member. His hips jumped toward her and she smiled. He was enjoying himself. She kissed his neck as she stroked him slowly.

"God Zi." Tony gasped when she ran her index finger up the bottom of his shaft teasingly.

"Good?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded silently, his grip on her hips tightening.

Ziva pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "Good."

Ziva wrapped her fingers around him once again, squeezing him gently as she lowered herself to her knees.

Tony's eyes opened immediately, and he looked down at her.

"Zi, you don't have to…" He started but cut himself off when he felt her tongue circling his tip. Fuck that felt good.

Ziva looked up at him. "I want to, Tony. This is about bringing back sensation. I am fine." She told him surely.

Tony nodded simply, distracted by the feeling of her hot breath ghosting over him. He almost surprised himself when he let out a small moan at the soft flicks his girlfriend's tongue was inflicting on him.

Ziva smiled when she heard Tony's moan. She wrapped one hand firmly around the base of his cock and the other came up to play with his balls. She leaned forward to take his tip into her mouth, tongue circling and pressing against his sensitive spots like she'd done this a million times before.

It took all the willpower Tony had to stop his hips from thrusting forward into Ziva's mouth. Everything that she was making him feel with her tongue… he hadn't realized how much he missed it. He wanted to make her feel just as much. He took a deep, steadying breath before he took Ziva's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Ziva asked, her arms finding their way around his neck once more.

Tony nodded. "You're still wearing pants."

Ziva looked down at herself. "Let me fix that."

She took a deep breath and unbuttoned her jeans, slowly pushing them down her legs. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Tony had seen her naked before. Every day for the last two and a half months, actually. But this was new, and Ziva was scared.

She looked up at Tony as she stepped out of her jeans, leaving them in a pile on the floor. Tony smiled softly, stepping closer to her. He reached out to her and she accepted his embrace gratefully.

Tony kissed her forehead softly as he ran his hands over her back lightly. His fingertips traced patterns up and down her sides, his thumbs running underneath her breasts briefly each time.

Ziva melted into Tony's warmth, and Tony enjoyed the small sounds that fell from her lips when his fingers found a sensitive spot.

Tony walked forward slowly, until he felt Ziva's knees hit the edge of the bed and he helped her sit down.

Ziva smiled a bit when Tony lowered himself to his knees in front of her. He was trying to give her the upper hand. If she was above him, she might feel safer.

His hands ran up and down her back gently. They reached the back of her bra and he looked up at his girlfriend.

"Can I take it off?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes."

Tony smiled softly and leaned forward to place light kisses to her neck as he unclasped her bra.

She let the straps slide off her shoulders and Tony dropped her bra to the side.

Tony smiled softly as he took in the sight of his girlfriend. Yes, he had seen her naked before, but this was different. This seemed more important.

"You…" he trailed off, trying to find the right words, "are so beautiful, I can't believe I get to have you." He told her honestly.

Ziva's eyes closed and she felt herself blushing at the compliment.

Tony rested his hands on her hips gently as they kissed.

Ziva smiled, running her hands through Tony's hair as he kissed from her neck, down one arm and then back up and across her chest to the other. He kissed a trail between her breasts, down her stomach. He placed gentle kisses over her hips and thighs, his hands coming down to play with the waistband of her panties.

When Tony finally made his way back to her lips, he was pleased to see that her dark eyes had sunk to a deeper shade of brown in her arousal.

Ziva took Tony's hands and stood up, pulling him with her.

His hands rested on her hips. "Can I take them off?" He asked, his thumbs tracing the waistband of her panties.

Ziva nodded. "Please."

Tony kissed her temple softly as he hooked his thumbs into the flimsy material and pushed them down slowly.

Ziva looked up at him, offering a small smile before she backed up toward the bed once more. She laid down on her side of the bed and patted the bed for Tony to sit down with her.

Tony sat down on the edge of the bed, and Ziva sat up behind him, one leg on either side of him.

"We do not have to do this Tony." She reminded him.

"I want to." Tony told her. "Do you?" He asked, looking back at her.

Ziva kissed his shoulder lightly. "Yes."

Tony smiled a bit and turned to lean back against the headboard. He reached out for Ziva's hands and pulled her into his lap. Their lips met in a heated kiss, and Ziva finally understood what 'seeing fireworks' meant.

Tony pulled away from her when the need for air became eminent. They sat quietly for a moment, eyes closed, trying to catch their breath.

Ziva was surprised when she felt Tony shift beneath her, and suddenly her taut nipple was engulfed in the warmth of her boyfriend's mouth.

Her hands held him against her, and her grip on his hair tightened when he flicked his tongue over the hard bud, sending sparks through her.

His hand came up to roll her other nipple between his fingers briefly before he dragged his tongue across her chest toward the neglected nipple.

Ziva gasped, her hips rolling when Tony's teeth scraped across her nipple. Tony smiled to himself and pinched the other nipple between his fingers.

"Tony!" Ziva moaned.

Tony released the swollen but with a pop and rested his hands on her rib cage, his thumbs running tight circles around her hardened nipples.

"I didn't know these were so sensitive." He said honestly.

Ziva, whose eyes were almost black with desire nodded in agreement. "I had forgotten." She told him before pulling him up to kiss her once more.

Ziva pulled out of the kiss and she took hold of one of Tony's hands, guiding his fingers between her legs slowly. Tony let his fingers tickle the inside of her thigh gently. As soon as his fingers grazed her skin, her muscles tensed, and Ziva started to shake. She buried her face into his shoulder.

"Are you sure Zi?" Tony asked once more.

Ziva nodded against him. "I trust you." She said softly. "Touch me, Tony."

Tony's fingers lingered on her thigh for a few more seconds before he slowly moved up her leg. He let out a small sigh of relief when his fingers met a pool of wetness.

Ziva's grip tightened in his hair when he touched her, and he really couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"It's just me Zi." He reminded her gently. "I won't hurt you."

Ziva nodded slightly. "Keep going." She mumbled.

The arm that Tony had around Ziva's waist tightened slightly as he gathered her wetness onto his fingers before sliding slow, lazy circles around her clit.

Ziva's mouth dropped open against his shoulder and her back arched, pushing her hips toward him. She loved this. Her entire body was tingling. This felt amazing.

"Faster." She moaned into Tony's shoulder, her legs spreading wider across his lap.

Tony smiled happily and acknowledged Ziva's request, drawing tight, fast circles around her clit.

Ziva's hips moved against his precise movements. Her breathing was heavy, and she could already feel her climax – the climax she hadn't experienced in over a year – building quickly.

"Stop." She said suddenly, and Tony pulled his hand away from her, faster than he even knew he could.

"Are you okay?!" He asked quickly, scanning her face for signs of fear or pain.

Ziva nodded and kissed him softly. "I did not mean to scare you. I want you, Tony. I want you inside me. If you are ready." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Okay." He said simply.

Ziva tucked her legs back so she was resting on her knees above Tony while he rested back against the headboard.

"Condom?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "I want to feel you. All of you. Is that okay?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah." He said, resting his hands on her hips.

Ziva leaned forward to press her lips to his gently. "Are you ready?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Are you?"

Ziva smiled. "Yes." She said confidently.

Her confidence suddenly faded as she reached between them slowly, running her fingers along Tony's length before grasping him and positioning herself above him. She took a deep breath and forced herself to keep her eyes open, fixed on Tony so she knew she was with him.

She realized quickly she didn't need to. She sunk down onto Tony's hard cock slowly and her mouth dropped open. She didn't even try to stop the moan that fell from her lips, and her eyes fluttered shut as he filled her. This was Tony. Kind, gentle, goofy Tony. This was perfect.

Tony felt himself twitch when her wetness met him, and he wasn't surprised when his toes curled as her wet heat engulfed him. He bit his lip as he watched the look of pure pleasure appear on Ziva's features. He let his eyes flutter shut. God she felt amazing. Hot and wet, and tight in all the right places. He resisted the urge to push into her quickly. This was about her. He wanted her to feel safe.

His eyes opened to observe the Israeli, sitting straight up over top of him, her eyes closed, her bottom lip tugged between her teeth. His fingers tightened around her hips when she began to move, slowly swirling her hips in circles one way, and then speeding up the other way.

Ziva leaned forward, bracing herself on Tony's shoulders. The angle of her body changed, and her inner walls clenched around Tony. Tony's hips bucked against her, pulling a sharp yelp out of her. Her head fell onto Tony's shoulder.

"Again." She moaned.

"Zi?" Tony asked unsurely.

Ziva lifted her head off his shoulder and leaned forward to kiss him. She pushed her tongue into his mouth fiercely as she lifted herself up, leaving just his tip inside herself.

"Please." She breathed against his lips.

Tony's grip tightened on her hips. He pushed his hips up and pulled her back down onto him quickly.

" _Ken_ , Tony." Ziva moaned as their hips met, her insides clenching.

Tony groaned into her mouth. She was amazing.

Ziva pulled away from the kiss and settled on top of him, their hips flush together.

"Look down." She told him.

Tony did as he was told, watching her lift herself up on her knees. A groan escaped his mouth as he watched his cock disappear into her, over and over again.

Ziva smiled, taking great pleasure in watching the look on Tony's face change. She moaned softly each time she sunk back down onto him. He filled her so perfectly, and she never wanted it to end.

She made a decision quickly and leaned forward to kiss him. "I want to try something." She told him quietly.

Tony felt himself twitch inside her, and from the way her eyes closed as she tried to compose herself, he knew she felt it too.

"What do you want to try?" He asked.

Ziva took a deep breath. "I want to be on the bottom." She said.

Tony ran his hands over her back gently. "Are you sure Zi?" He asked seriously.

Ziva nodded. "I do not want to be scared of you. I will tell you if it is too much." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Okay." He said softly.

Ziva lifted herself off of him, shuddering at the loss of contact before settling down on her back beside him.

Tony hesitated for a moment before he crawled over top of her. Her eyes were shut tightly, and he could feel her starting to shake again, and not in a good way.

"Open your eyes." He requested.

Ziva's eyes opened and she took a deep breath, trying to relax.

Tony positioned himself at her entrance and looked down at her. One of her hands came up around his neck while the other gripped his arm tightly. She gave him a slight nod and Tony pushed into her slowly.

Ziva's grip on his arm tightened, her nails digging into his skin.

She shook her head quickly. "I can't, I can't, I can't."

It was such an un-Ziva-like response, and Tony's reaction surprised even him, he pushed himself off of her so quickly that he was standing on the floor at the foot of the bed, almost terrified less than a second later.

His fear rocketed into worry quickly as he watched as Ziva's legs curled up and she rolled onto her side, panting.

Tony walked around the side of the bed and crouched down beside her.

"Open your eyes Zi, it's just me, you're safe sweetheart." He said softly. "Open your eyes."

It took Ziva a moment to register that he was speaking to her. Her eyes opened and Tony's heart clenched when he saw the fear she felt.

"Tony." She mumbled.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, just me." He said softly. "Can I touch you?" He asked.

Ziva nodded and reached out for his hand.

Tony took it, lacing their fingers together as he moved to lay on the bed beside her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly.

Ziva nodded. "I think so." She told him.

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Ziva shrugged. "I do not know what there is to talk about. I could not do it… I will never get back there." She said sadly.

Tony's hand moved from her waist to her uninjured cheek. "It's okay to be scared Ziva. You know that." He said. "It doesn't mean you failed or anything. We can just try again some other time." He told her.

Ziva sighed. "I do not want to try again some other time." She told him as tears welled in her eyes. "I am ready. I know I am ready, I was enjoying myself. It was amazing." She told him. She was getting frustrated with herself.

Tony nodded silently, waiting to see if she was going to speak again.

Her hand came up to wipe her tears from her cheeks angrily.

"I am sorry." She said quietly.

Tony shook his head. "Don't be." He told her firmly. "There isn't anything wrong with this. We both knew that something like this might happen."

Ziva nodded. "I just…" She sighed. "I love sex. It is one of my favorite things, and I just want to be able to love it with you. That does not mean that I wasn't, I was, it was not you… it was just, having someone on top of me… it scared me. But it was not you, or anything you did." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Were you okay on top of me?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes."

"So why do you feel like you need to enjoy it underneath me too? I have absolutely no objection to you on top of me. In fact, I was enjoying it." He told her.

Ziva shrugged. "Because I want to be able to trust you, in a way that I cannot trust anyone else. The last memory that I have of someone on top of me... it is filled with fear, and pain, and I hate it." She admitted. "I feel, I need that to not be the last memory I have. I need you to... to fix it, maybe. I do not know how to explain it."

Tony nodded. "Okay." He told her.

"Are you okay?" Ziva asked suddenly, realizing that she had completely forgotten that he could be feeling the same way she was.

Tony nodded, kissing her forehead. "I'm okay Zi. Don't worry about me." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "Alright."

They laid in silence for a few minutes, Tony's arms wrapped around Ziva, and Ziva drawing patterns over Tony's back lightly with her finger tips.

"Can we try again?" She asked quietly.

Tony looked down at her. "Are you sure, Zi? Like really really sure? I don't want to scare you or anything." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I need to try." She said.

Tony nodded. "Okay."

"Kiss me." She mumbled, threading her fingers through his hair and pulling him down to meet her lips.

Tony let out a content sigh as they kissed, her nails scraped across his scalp and he could feel himself getting hard again.

Ziva shifted onto her back and Tony propped himself up on his elbow, trying to stay off of her as much as he could until she told him otherwise.

Ziva's breath hitched as Tony kissed his way from her jaw to her collarbone, letting his tongue trace slow lines around her pulse point.

Her fingers tightened in his hair and she gasped. She felt Tony smile against her neck before his tongue was dragged between her breasts and back up around her nipples.

Her hips jumped and Tony's eyes opened briefly to see if she was alright.

Her head was thrown back against the pillow, her mouth open, and her eyes shut tightly. He decided that this was a good jump, and he wrapped his lips around her nipple, scraping his teeth over it lightly.

Her back arched and a small moan slipped from her throat and travelled straight from Tony's ears to his rapidly hardening cock.

Ziva pulled Tony off of her breasts and back up to kiss her deeply.

Tony pulled back from the kiss, resting his forehead against hers.

He felt Ziva take a deep, steadying breath before she reached down to tangle her fingers with his.

"I am ready." She said softly.

Tony squeezed her hand. "Are you sure?" He asked.

Ziva nodded and picked his hand up, guiding it between her legs. Tony's eyes fell shut as she ran his fingers through her wet folds. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes again.

"I meant mentally, not physically." He told her softly.

Ziva nodded, pulling him down to kiss her once more.

"Go slow. I will keep my eyes open." She told him.

Tony nodded. He knew she would tell him if it was too much. He lifted himself up a bit higher and crawled over top of her slowly, kissing his way up her body as he did.

He felt his tip brushing against her body, and he took a deep breath.

"Are you sure?" He asked again.

Ziva nodded. "Yes."

Tony nodded silently and reached between them, lining himself up with her.

He looked back up at her. She still looked scared.

"Eyes on me." He reminded her softly.

Ziva nodded and her hand tightened in Tony's hair, and the other one wrapped around his arm again.

"Okay." She said softly.

Tony took a deep breath and pushed into her slowly, getting ready for her to tell him to stop again. His eyes never left hers.

Tony let out a small groan as their hips met and he was completely buried inside her. She felt amazing.

He forced himself to stay completely still for what felt like hours before Ziva's fingers tightened in his hair.

"Move." She said lowly.

"You okay?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded, grinding her hips against him. "Please Tony." She whimpered. "I want you."

Tony smiled a bit and kissed her as he pulled almost all the way out of her before pushing back in slowly. He shuddered when their hips met once again.

He pulled away from her, searching her face for signs of fear or discomfort, and he was surprised when he didn't see any.

Her hands were tight in his hair, and around his arm, but she was not scared of him. She was enjoying herself.

He felt himself twitching inside her every time she let a sound fall from her lips.

He was surprised when Ziva's legs locked around his waist.

"Faster Tony." She requested before pulling his mouth to hers.

Tony did as she asked, moving his body faster against hers. Ziva moaned loudly into the kiss, her hand tightening in his hair.

She was in awe. It had been so long since she had felt this kind of pleasure. Her body was hot, her senses on high alert. She could feel the sheets rubbing against her back as they moved together. She felt Tony's chest against her own, the hairs on his chest tickled her nipples. And the most surprising was the pleasure she felt as Tony's hard cock pressed inside her, reaching all the right places.

Ziva was breathless. Her chest felt almost hollow every time he thrust into her, and she found herself crying out, begging him to go faster, harder, she just wanted more.

Tony felt her inner walls flutter around him, and her breathing grew shallow. She was close, and he couldn't wait to watch her orgasm hit her.

He leaned down to kiss her, hard, pushing his tongue against hers roughly. Ziva's legs tightened around his waist, pulling her hips closer to Tony's as they moved together.

Tony pulled his lips away from hers long enough to mutter, "let go Zi," in her ear before he attached his lips to her pulse point, sucking hard.

Ziva's eyes were shut tightly and her mouth fell open. Her muscles began to tense, and her legs tightened even more around Tony's waist. Her hips pumped erratically against his and her mind went blank as pleasure erupted inside her. A mangled scream of Tony's name fell from her lips and her fingernails dug into his scalp.

Tony groaned as he thrust into her, trying to draw out her pleasure as long as possible. Her walls gripped him tightly, squeezing and clenching around him, trying to pull him deeper.

"Fuck, Zi, oh God.." Tony groaned. He buried his head into her shoulder and his hips pushed hard against her once more as he spilled inside her.

They laid there together for a few minutes, trying to catch their breath. Ziva shuddered when Tony pulled out of her.

"Towel?" Tony asked as he kissed Ziva's cheek softly.

Ziva smiled a bit, nodding.

Tony climbed off of the bed and walked quickly into the hall to grab a cloth from the closet. He walked into the bathroom and turned the warm water on and let it run over the cloth for a moment before he wrung it out.

He walked back into the bedroom, smiling to himself when he saw Ziva, laying on the bed with her knees up, the way she would look if she had her laptop on her lap. She looked relaxed. He climbed up onto the bed and sat down beside her legs.

Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling.

Tony brought his hands up to her knees, pulling them apart slightly. Ziva allowed him to move her legs, and her heart clenched when he placed tender kisses on her thighs.

"I'm just gonna clean up a bit, alright?" Tony asked softly.

Ziva nodded silently, and laid on the bed patiently, perfectly comfortable allowing her boyfriend to see her like this.

Tony wiped himself off after her and dropped the towel and the wet cloth to the side of the bed to be dealt with later.

He moved to sit back against the headboard he looked down at Ziva, and he was almost shocked to see tears running down her cheeks. Had they been there the whole time?

He sat down beside her and pulled her into his lap.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked sadly as he rocked her.

Ziva wiped her tears and shook her head no. "Not even a little bit, Tony." She told him surely. "These are happy tears. I had forgotten that it could feel that good… that was…" She trailed off.

"Amazing." Tony finished for her.

Ziva nodded. "Perfect." She said. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking up at him.

Tony smiled. "Yeah, I am." He told her, hugging her tightly against him.

Ziva brought her hand up to cup his cheek and she turned his head to face her. She sat up in his lap slightly, pulling his lips to hers for a gentle kiss.

"I look forward to doing that until we're eighty." She told him.

Tony smiled. "Me too, sweet cheeks." He said as pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I love you Zi. More than you could ever know."

Ziva smiled and rested her head against his shoulder. "I love you too."


	11. Chapter 11

_Wow, this took me a really long time to write for some reason, I guess I was thinking about it too much, and I needed to step away from it for a little while, but I think I am back now, and I have the next few chapters planned and started so those should be coming soon._

 _Anyway, here is chapter 11, I hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

 _ **Eleven**_

When Ziva's eyes opened the next morning, she was wrapped around Tony, their legs tangled together, her arm tossed over his torso, her head rested on his shoulder. She smiled brightly as memories of the night before flashed through her mind.

Tony's arms, which were firmly wrapped around her waist tightened protectively and she lifted her head to look up at him.

"Morning." He said softly.

Ziva smiled and kissed him gently. "Good morning." She laid her head back on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Tony asked unsurely.

Ziva nodded, tossing her arm back across his chest. "I am perfect." She told him confidently. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Tony nodded and kissed her forehead softly. "Yeah… yeah I'm pretty perfect too." He said.

Ziva smiled. "Good."

She raised her arms above her head and untangled her legs from Tony's so she could stretch. She pointed her toes and groaned before laughing lightly.

"What?" Tony asked curiously.

"My legs are sore." She told him.

Tony laughed. "Well, whose fault is that?" He asked playfully.

Ziva leaned down to kiss him deeply. "Yours." She told him, smiling brightly.

Tony wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him, laughing lightly. "Oops?"

Ziva smiled and laid back down beside him, close enough that she could still wrap herself around him. She closed her eyes as his hand ran up and down her back gently. She could feel Tony's eyes on her, and she looked up, surprised to see that he looked close to tears.

She pushed herself up to rest on her elbow above him and her free hand moved up to cup his cheek gently.

"What is it love?" She asked softly. "Are you alright?"

Tony nodded and took a deep breath, trying to blink the tears out of his eyes as he did so.

"Talk to me Tony." Ziva pleaded, growing increasingly concerned.

"I don't know what to say." Tony told her. "There are so many things I want to tell you... I don't know where to start." He admitted.

Ziva leaned forward to kiss him softly. "Start anywhere you want love; I will catch up eventually."

Tony nodded and Ziva's fingers ran over his scalp gently.

"I never thought that I would get to have you like this." He started. "I don't just mean the sex, not that it's not great, but I never thought I would be here, holding you. I never thought that you would let me in the way you have, and I'm so in love with you..." He trailed off. "I barely know what to do with myself most days… I just… I love you, so much it hurts." He told her softly.

Ziva's hand came up to wipe a tear off her own cheek as she listened to Tony. She had never had a man who was so honest with her. She had never had a man who loved her like he did, and she knew it, and she was incredibly grateful for it.

She leaned down to kiss him softly. "I never thought I would trust anyone enough to let them in the way I have with you. I know that you will not hurt me, not on purpose at least, and if you ever did, I know how badly you would feel. And I love you too. More than anything, Tony." She said as she rested her head back on his shoulder, pressing herself closer to him.

Tony pulled her as close as he could, kissing her forehead softly. They laid there together for a few moments before they decided that it was in their best interest to not be late for work.

XXXXX

Tony and Ziva stepped off the elevator and they had to bite their tongues to stop the unimpressed groan that was about to surface as they spotted the cardboard boxes on their desks.

Great. Cold cases.

Every few months, when fresh cases got slow, Vance would drag a few boxes of cold cases out for them to review and update, just in case they could get closer to solving one or two of them.

This happened to be one of those days.

McGee was already sitting at his desk, his forehead resting on top of the box on his desk, and Gibbs was nowhere to be found, probably getting coffee.

Tony and Ziva dropped their bags on the floor, startling McGee. He sat up, eyes wide and looked between the two of them.

"Morning." He said.

"We're gonna suffer today." Tony said as he plopped into his chair.

Ziva nodded in agreement. "This box is from almost ten years ago!" She said as she took the lid off.

Gibbs strode into the squad room and the three agents looked up at him, almost hoping he was about to tell them to grab their gear. No such luck. Gibbs sat down and pulled the lid off his own box.

"The faster you start the faster you finish." He told his team.

Tony, Ziva, and McGee all pulled out the first file as quickly as their boss did and started reading through them.

Twenty minutes later Ziva was ten pages into the file she had pulled out and she was wondering why the victim's friends had not been interviewed on the night of her murder.

She wrote down the address of the two friends who had been with her, surprised that they were still roommates after so long.

"I am going to go interview my victim's roommates, my cell phone will be on if you need me." She said as she stood from her desk.

Gibbs nodded. "Sounds good." He said without looking up.

Tony looked up at her. "Be safe." He told her as she pulled her jacket on.

Ziva nodded. "I will." She threw her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the squad room, running to catch the elevator that was just about to close.

She stuck her hand through the doors just in time and stepped into the elevator.

XXXXX

"Is there anything else you remember?" Ziva asked Courtney Thomson, one of the cold case victim's friends.

This was her second interview of the day, the first had gone over just about as well as this one seemed to be, the other friend could not remember anything.

Courtney shook her head. "No, nothing, we said goodbye, and I went home." She told Ziva surely.

Ziva nodded, scribbling the results of her interview in her notepad. "Alright, thank you for your time, Miss Thomson." She said as she stood from the table in the break room of the coffee shop where Courtney worked.

"Of course, anything I can do to help, not that I was really much help…" Courtney trailed off.

Ziva rested her hand on Courtney's shoulder. "You're trying, that is all you need to do." She told her firmly.

Courtney nodded. "Thank you."

Ziva smiled softly and walked out of the door and into the busy coffee shop. She briefly debated getting herself some tea before she decided against it, figuring she should get back to the office.

As she began walking down the block to her car she got a suspicious feeling. Like someone was watching her. Her stomach felt tingly, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose.

Her breath caught in her throat as a hand clamped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist from behind, and she was being pulled into a small alcove behind the coffee shop.

She launched her elbow back toward her attacker's gut and he released her. She turned around, hands up to defend herself, and she stopped immediately as she recognized her attacker.

Her hands dropped to her sides.

"Abba?" She asked, purely confused. What was her father doing here?

Eli smiled a bit, holding his arms open to her. "My Ziva, what, no hug for your father?" He asked.

Ziva stepped back. "What are you doing here?" She asked quickly. "Why are you following me?"

Eli's arms dropped back to his sides. "I am here for work." He told her. "And I was not following you, I wanted to ask you to come to my hotel, so we could talk." He told her.

"And you thought that the best way to do that was to ambush me in an alley? What ever happened to a telephone? Or an e-mail?" She asked angrily.

"We both know my methods have never been orthodox neshama." He told her. "Nobody knows I am in the country; I could not just send you an e-mail."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Why are you even here? What op is so interesting that it gets out of Israel?" She asked.

"You know I cannot tell you that." Eli said.

"Then I am leaving." Ziva said.

Eli reached out to stop her. "It has nothing to do with you, or NCIS. I am here overseeing an operation to apprehend an Israeli terrorist; we think she is laying down here for a while." He told her lowly.

"Laying low." Ziva couldn't help but correct him.

Eli nodded. "Alright, now, will you please consider meeting with me tomorrow? I just want to talk, in private." He said, eyeing his surroundings.

Ziva took a deep breath, debating whether or not it was worth it. She sighed.

"Where are you staying?" She asked.

"At the Adams House, room four hundred eighty-seven. If anyone asks, you are visiting Edward Delgado." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. What time?" She asked.

Eli looked down at his watch. "Seven." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I will be there." She told him before she turned and walked out of the alley.

She turned the corner and pulled her car keys out of her jacket pocket and unlocked her car.

She sat down in the driver's seat and pushed the key into the ignition and twisted it, letting out a small sigh of relief when she put the car in drive, and the doors locked automatically.

She couldn't think straight. After almost a year and a half of silence from her father, now he was suddenly in the country wanting to talk to her? Why? Was he going to accuse her of being disloyal again? Was he planning on trying to recruit her back to Mossad, and therefore, Israel? And the biggest question of all, what should she tell Tony? And the team? Should she tell them at all?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a car horn blaring and she slammed on the breaks, stopping in the middle of the crosswalk at a red light.

She ran her hand over her face and shook her head out, trying desperately to clear her mind. She did not know what she should do.

She looked down at her watch, and she realized that she had already been gone for almost three hours. She was close to her apartment, and she didn't think that another half hour would be a big deal, so she turned the car down the nearest side street she could find and drove herself home. She needed to take a few minutes and think about what she was going to do before she did something stupid.

She walked into her apartment and walked down the hallway to the bedroom she and Tony shared and pulled her latest journal out of the drawer in her bedside table and she sat down on the bed, getting ready to figure her thoughts out on paper.

XXXXX

An hour later, Ziva was walking back into the squad room, feeling slightly better, and definitely calmer than she had been when she got into her car at the coffee shop.

She had decided that if no one but Mossad knew that her father was in town, it was best to keep it that way unless something happened. She did not want to lie to her team, and she did not want to lie to Tony, but she thought that the best choice would be the one that kept the most people safe, so she really had no choice.

Tony smiled brightly at her as she walked into the squad room and dropped her bag beside her desk.

"Get anywhere?" He asked hopefully.

Ziva shook her head. "Not really. You guys?" She asked.

They all shook their heads no.

"Nothing new at least." McGee told her.

Ziva sat down at her desk and stuffed the case file she had been looking at back into its place in the box before she dug out another. She was half hoping that this day would end quickly, because she wanted to go home and relax, but she was also hoping that it dragged out forever so she would have more time to wrap her head around the idea of her father being there.

The rest of the day was filled with phone calls and Google searches, and the occasional call down to Abby or Ducky for reports that had somehow gotten lost from the case file, because everyone knew they kept copies, and both kept immaculate records.

Finally, Gibbs himself gave up on doing anymore reviewing for the night and told them all to go home, which they were all thankful for.

Tony stood patiently beside Ziva's desk, waiting for his girlfriend to pack her things, which seemed to be taking longer than normal. He had noticed that she had seemed a bit different when she had come back in earlier, but he rounded it off to cold case review and trying to sift through everything from the last however many years were on a case file.

Ziva reached up to turn her desk lamp off and pulled on her jacket quickly before she grabbed her bag and tossed it over her shoulder once more. She held out her hand to Tony.

"Let's go." She said.

Tony smiled and took her hand, leading her to the elevator as they called their goodbyes to Gibbs and McGee over their shoulders.

They walked into the apartment twenty minutes later and they both dropped their bags and the front door and shrugged off their coats. Tony hung Ziva's coat for her while she pulled off her boots.

"You want something to eat?" Tony asked, looking at the clock on the wall. It was already 22:30.

Ziva shook her head. "Not really, I just want to go to bed, I am exhausted." She told him honestly.

Tony nodded and locked the apartment door. "Okay, come on then, to bed we shall go." He said, holding his hand out to her.

Ziva pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the side, along with her bra, pants, and underwear before she crawled into bed quickly, waiting for Tony.

Tony shut off the hall light and got undressed and shut off the ceiling light in the bedroom. He walked over to his side of the bed and pulled the cord on the small lamp, and the room was bathed in darkness.

He laid down beside Ziva and the quick wat that she moved into his arms didn't go unnoticed by him.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly.

Ziva nodded. "I will be fine." She told him.

Tony wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her close to him. "You wanna talk? Or write?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "I just want to be here with you. Just hold me, please." She said softly.

She felt Tony nod, and she buried her head in his shoulder, taking comfort in his steady frame.

"It was one of the cases today, wasn't it?" He asked softly. "Hit a bit too close to home somehow?"

Ziva nodded against him. "Something like that, yes… I will be alright, I promise." She told him.

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "I know you will Zi, it's okay." He told her.

Ziva nodded silently, pressing herself closer against him and he ran his hand through her hair in an attempt to comfort her. It must have worked, because twenty minutes later, her breathing had evened out and she was snoring the tiniest bit.

Tony smiled to himself. "I knew she snored."


	12. Chapter 12

_Here is chapter 12 after just a few days! Anyway, I felt like this conversation really needed to happen between Eli and Ziva, so I hope you enjoy! Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments/reviews, whatever you wanna call them!_

* * *

 _ **Twelve**_

The next day Ziva could barely keep herself still enough to finish going through her box of cold cases. Her foot bounced under her desk as she looked over at the clock on her computer screen for the hundredth time that day. It was already 18:20, she was supposed to be meeting her father in forty minutes.

She closed the last case file in her box and put the lid back on it just as Tony closed his file.

"You ready to pack it in for the night?" Tony asked her from his desk.

Ziva nodded. "Please." She said as she dropped the box on the floor beside her desk to be picked up later by… whoever picked them up, she wasn't really sure.

Tony stacked his box on top of hers and walked back over to his desk to grab his jacket.

"We'll see you tomorrow." Ziva called to Gibbs and McGee as she and Tony started toward the elevator.

She heard their muffled goodbyes as she pressed the call button and stood, waiting impatiently for the elevator doors to slide open.

The doors slid open on the ground floor and Tony and Ziva walked out the front door toward the parking lot.

"Is it alright if I drop you off at home, I have to go do something." Ziva asked as they got into her car.

Tony eyed her suspiciously but agreed. "Sure, I'll start dinner if you want?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Alright, I do not expect to be too long." She told him as she started the car and backed out of her parking spot.

Twenty minutes later, Ziva pulled up to the curb outside their apartment building to let Tony out of the car.

He leaned across the center console to kiss her briefly. "Be safe." He told her as he opened the door.

Ziva smiled slightly. "I will. I love you." She told him.

Tony leaned down, ducking into the door. "I love you too." He said, smiling brightly before he closed the door and turned to walk into the building.

Ziva waited until Tony had stepped into the elevator before she drove away from the curb.

She felt slightly guilty for not telling Tony where she was going. She told him everything, but she knew that if she told him, she would have to tell Gibbs too. And what did it matter? Her father was not in the country to do anything illegal; it was a Mossad operation that he was overseeing.

Mossad had never exactly been praised for their tact but drawing unnecessary attention by breaking international laws was too risky. Even for Eli David.

Ziva was slightly surprised when she saw the Adams House Hotel coming up on her right. She looked at the clock in her car; 18:57. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized she had been driving for that long.

She found an empty parking spot along the curb and parked her car, making sure to check the meter so she would not get a ticket. She didn't want anyone to be able to trace her back to her father. She might not trust him, but she didn't want to put him in danger.

She walked through the revolving door into the lobby and was pleased to see a small crowd. She slipped through the lobby unnoticed and pushed open a stairwell door and jogged up to the fourth floor.

She poked her head out the door that would let her out onto the fourth-floor hallway to make sure there was no one there. The coast was clear. She stepped into the hallway and followed the signs that helped point guests in the right direction.

She stopped in front of room 487 and took a deep breath as she raised her hand to knock lightly on the door.

Within seconds she heard the chain being undone inside the door and the door swung open to reveal her father, dressed much more casually than she would have expected from him.

"My Ziva, how are you?" He asked, holding his arms open to her as he stepped back, allowing her to enter the room.

Ziva closed the door behind her and gave in to her father, giving him a stiff hug. "I am fine, abba. How are you?" She asked politely.

Eli smiled. "Better now that you are here, come, sit with me." He said as he led her through to the modest sitting room in the hotel suite.

She sat down in a chair opposite the couch and waited for her father to sit.

Ziva took a deep breath. "Why am I here?" She asked.

Eli sighed. "You are so to the point, just like your mother." He told her.

"Answer the question." Ziva said.

Eli nodded. "You are here because I wanted to speak with you. Catch up, as you would say." He told her.

"What is there to catch up on? I no longer work for you, I am an American, you know all of this." She said.

"I do not want to fight with you, Ziva, truly, I just… I was hoping to get to know you again. Like we used to." Eli said.

Ziva's eyes narrowed. She couldn't tell if he was telling the truth. She didn't know if she could trust him. She didn't trust him. She had been burned by him too many times before, and she refused to let herself be hurt by him again.

She decided to tread carefully.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

Eli shrugged. "How have you been doing? Do you like it here? What is your life like? Are you seeing anyone?" He asked.

Ziva thought for a moment. "I am fine, I am happy here. D.C. is my home." She told him. "You know I like it here, otherwise I would not become a citizen. I would have gone back to Israel."

"I still do not understand why you do not." Eli interrupted.

Ziva rolled her eyes. Of course this is what he wanted. Her loyalty.

"Because I have a life here. I love my job, I love the people I am around, I…" She hesitated, wondering if she should mention Tony. No, he had asked if she was seeing someone, so obviously he wanted to know the answer. "I love my boyfriend." That still felt odd coming out of her mouth.

"Boyfriend?" Eli asked curiously.

Ziva nodded. "I have started seeing Tony." She told him bluntly.

"Of all people…" Eli started with a sigh. "Why him? You could do so much better my Ziva."

"Because it is my choice." Ziva told him firmly.

"I do not like what this country has done to you." Eli said.

"This country has done nothing to me!" Ziva told him.

"Clearly it has for you to be with…" He trailed off. "I do not like it." Eli told her.

"You do not have to like it, abba. I am not asking your permission. I am not fifteen years old anymore." Ziva told him.

Eli stood from the couch. "I am still your father and you are still my daughter Ziva. I have every right-"

Ziva cut him off. "You have absolutely no right!" She yelled as she shot out of her chair. "You call yourself my father, what father lies to their child for almost thirty years? What father tosses their child into a desert and leaves them to die? I cannot even count the times I have been hurt at your hand. You are… you are not a father; you are a ruthless, unbothered monster." She told him angrily.

Eli's jaw clenched. He opened his mouth to speak, and Ziva interrupted him again.

"Tony is a good man, abba." She said as tears rolled down her cheeks. "He treats me well."

"You would really choose him above me? Your own blood?" Eli asked.

Ziva took a deep, steadying breath, and nodded. "Yes. I know he loves me. I do not know if I can say the same of you." She told him before she turned and walked out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind her.

Ziva pushed through the stairwell door and started to walk down the stairs. She almost wished her father would come after her, just to show some sign that he cared at all. She heard no footsteps behind her, and she sighed sadly.

She should not have come. She was stupid to think that he would be accepting of her. She had not thought that his reaction to her relationship with Tony would be anything like that. She knew he wouldn't be happy, but he had asked her to choose. Tony or her father. And he seemed genuinely surprised at her choice. Why would she go back to her father? To be sent on another op that almost killed her? To watch more and more of her friends die every day? Did her father really think that that is what would be best for her? Or did he just want to win a battle of wills?

Ziva's fist clenched and she struck the concrete wall in front of her, which she immediately regretted. Her fingers began to bleed in seconds, and she had nothing to wrap them with. She just wanted to go home. She wanted Tony.

She wiped the tears out of her eyes and tried to calm herself down for a moment before she descended the rest of the stairs and emerged from the stairwell on the ground floor.

She slipped out of the hotel just as easily as she had slipped in, despite her bloody hand and her probably very red face and she made her way out to her car.

She sat down in the driver's seat and pulled her keys out of her pocket with her injured right hand carefully. She wished she had punched with the other hand. She pushed the keys into the ignition and started the car.

Her tears started again before she had pulled away from the curb.

She had to drive a bit slower than normal with only one hand, and not her dominant hand, but she still made it back home quicker than she had anticipated.

She flipped the sun visor above her head down and pulled the cover off the mirror so she could look at herself. Yep, red-faced and looking like a crazy person. Perfect. She rolled her eyes as she flipped the visor back into its place and stepped out of the car.

When she opened the apartment door a few minutes later, she could smell some kind of soup on the stove and she could hear Tony singing softly to himself as he chopped something on the cutting board.

"Zi?" Tony called from the kitchen. "Is that you or a murderer?" He asked playfully.

Ziva sniffled and smiled a bit as she toed off her boots.

"Just me." She said. She knew her voice sounded like she had been crying.

Not even thirty seconds later Tony was walking out of the kitchen, concern written all over his face.

"What happened?" He asked when he saw her tears. He looked down at her unmistakeable bloody knuckles and he tensed. "Did someone do that do you?" He asked seriously.

Ziva shook her head as she peeled off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack. "Nobody touched me." She told him softly. "I punched a wall."

Tony reached down to pick up her hand and examine it. It was definitely swollen and scraped up pretty good judging by the amount of blood on her hand, but it didn't look too serious.

"Come on. Let's get this cleaned up and then we can talk about it, okay?" He asked gently.

Ziva nodded. "Alright." She said softly.

She allowed him to lead her down the hall to the bathroom, where he closed the lid on the toilet seat for her to sit down on.

Tony pulled the first aid kit out from under the sink and pulled some gauze squares, a roll of gauze, some cotton swabs, ointment, a roll of tape, and a small spray bottle of peroxide out of it. He sat down on the floor in front of Ziva and reached for her hand.

She held it out for him to inspect closer.

Tony picked up the peroxide and looked up at her. "It might sting a bit." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "It's fine." She said shortly, not trusting herself not to start crying again.

Tony nodded and began spraying her hand. He grabbed some of the gauze squares to wipe the peroxide and dried blood off her hand before he moved to spray the actual wounds a few more times, making sure they were as clean as possible.

He picked up the cotton swabs and tore open the packaging. He laid them to the side as he opened the small tube of antibiotic ointment. He applied the ointment to her knuckles with the cotton swabs as gently as he could before he picked up the roll of gauze and began wrapping it around her hand.

"Hand me the tape?" Tony asked gently.

Ziva held the tape out for him and her peeled it back and ripped a strip off to tape the end of the gauze down.

"I'll change it again tomorrow." He told her as he rested her hand on her leg.

Ziva nodded silently and watched as he cleaned up the small mess he had made on the bathroom floor.

He tossed the last piece of paper from the cotton swabs into the trash can and stood in front of his girlfriend, holding his hands out to her.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"C'mere." Tony said softly.

Ziva took his hands and stood up. He pulled her into a tight hug, and she buried her face in her neck as she wrapped her arms around him.

He kissed the side of her head gently when he felt her tears on his skin.

"How about we go sit on the couch and we can talk while we wait for dinner? The soup is almost done." He suggested gently.

Ziva nodded against him and pulled away from the hug, instead allowing him to hold her hand as she was escorted back to the living room.

Tony sat down on the couch first and Ziva sat beside him, waiting for him to settle before she lifted her legs up to lay across his.

He wrapped his arms around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"What happened sweet cheeks?" Tony asked.

Ziva sighed. "I went to see my father." She told him quietly.

"Your father? What? How? Where?" He asked rapidly.

Ziva nodded. "At the Adams House. He is here overseeing an op." She told him.

"What does that have to do with you? How did you know he was in town? I thought you hadn't spoken to him since Somalia." Tony said.

Ziva nodded. "I hadn't. He found me when I was out doing interviews yesterday. He asked me to meet him, he said he wanted to talk, catch up." She told him.

Tony nodded silently. He had to admit, he was a bit hurt that Ziva hadn't told him where she was going, or that her father was in town, but there were more important things to deal with right now. Number one; why did Eli think it was a good idea to speak with her when she hadn't reached out in so long, and number two; what had he said to upset her this much?

He kissed her forehead softly. "What happened?" He asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I got there, and he told me he wanted to start getting to know me again. He asked me about my life, and I told him that I love it here, and if I did not, I would not still be here, I would have gone back to Israel." She said.

Tony nodded. "Okay, that makes sense."

"And he said that he does not understand why I don't go back." Ziva told him. "And I told him that it was because I love my job, I love the people around me, and I you. He didn't like that last part."

Tony nodded. "He never really has been my biggest fan, has he?"

Ziva shook her head. "He gave me some speech about how I could do so much better than you, and how he does not like what this country has done to me. And ultimately, he made me choose. Him or you." Ziva told him. "I chose you. You are my family."

Tony pulled her against him tightly. "You didn't have to do that." He told her softly.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, I did. If I did not I would have just been back under his control, and I do not want that." She told him. "I want to live my own life with my own choices."

Tony nodded. "That's understandable." He told her.

"You are my family Tony. You, and Gibbs, and McGee, and Abby, Ducky, Palmer… I chose you. Mostly you, Tony, but I chose to people who care about me." Ziva said.

"So where did the punching of the wall come in exactly?" Tony asked.

Ziva laughed lightly then let out a small groan as she remembered her own stupidity.

"I was in the stairwell at the Adams House, and I was trying to calm myself down, but I could not stop thinking about what he had said, and it jus sort of… happened." Ziva said.

Tony smiled. "That's my girl, beating up concrete walls." He said playfully.

Ziva smiled a bit, which made Tony smile bigger.

"There it is. I've missed that."

Ziva smiled and wrapped her arms around Tony's neck, pulling herself closer to him. "I love you." She said softly.

Tony nodded against her. "I love you too." He said. "Now how about we go get some soup? It's your favorite, chicken and rice."

Ziva kissed his cheek. "Aright." He said as she climbed off his lap.

He caught her uninjured hand in his as he stood up.

"Tell me where you're going next time, I was scared something might have happened to you." He told her.

Ziva nodded, kissing his cheek once again. "Alright. I can do that." She told him. "Now, soup!" She said, smiling as she held out her bowl for him to fill.


	13. Chapter 13

_Sorry this took so long! I have been playing around with the idea for this chapter in my head for weeks now, and I couldn't decide if this was a good way to do this or not, but I decided to write it this way, becaue I know that if we did have the chance to actually see this, this is the way i would have wanted it to go/be written. But the writer's never saw it that way, so it's my turn. Anyway, I am hoping the next chapter will not take so long to write, but I have to apologize as I can make no guarantees. But without anymore of my incessant rambling, here is chapter 13! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!_

* * *

 _ **Thirteen**_

"Please stop looking at me like that." Ziva almost begged as she drove through D.C. on their way to work the next morning. "I am fine, Tony."

"When is your next appointment with Lillian?" Tony asked.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Stop. I do not need therapy to deal with my father." She snapped at him.

"I wasn't suggesting that you did, I just thought that talking to someone with a different perspective, who's never met the man might help. I won't do it again." He told her irritably from the passenger seat.

They were silent for the rest of the drive.

Ziva pulled into her assigned parking space and turned the car off. Tony reached to pull the door handle when Ziva stopped him.

"You know if we go in like this Gibbs will throw rule twelve at us right?" She asked.

"Yep." Tony said shortly.

Ziva sighed sadly. "He is probably already out of the country, Tony." She told him, looking down at her hands in her lap. "There is nothing I can do. He did not…" She trailed off. What did it matter?

"He didn't what Zi?" Tony asked gently.

Ziva shrugged. "He did not care about me. He only wanted me back under his control." She told him.

"And that hurt you." Tony said.

Ziva nodded. "It should not have but it did."

Tony reached across the center console to hold her hand. "Of course, it should have hurt, Ziva. He's your father. He raised you, you shouldn't feel like you don't have the right to be hurt when he did something that hurts you."

Ziva shrugged. "I guess." She said softly.

Tony brought his hand up to rest on her cheek gently, tilting her head up to see him.

"It's okay to care about him. There isn't anything wrong with that." Tony said.

"I just do not understand why he does not care about me." Ziva told him. "I am his daughter, he raised me…"

Tony shrugged. "I don't know Zi, I wish I did. Hopefully you'll be able to ask him one day, but I think that day might still be a bit further into the future."

Ziva nodded. She looked up at him. "I'm sorry." She said softly.

"For what?" Tony asked.

"Snapping at you, I know you were just trying to help." She said.

Tony leaned forward to kiss her forehead softly. "You don't have to apologize, I shouldn't have pried."

Ziva laughed lightly. "This is just going to become one big apology circle isn't it?" She asked.

Tony nodded, smiling a bit. "Yeah, probably. But seriously, if I go too far, tell me." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I will, you know that. You were not prying, you were just trying to help, and I love you for it."

Tony smiled. "I love you too."

"And my next appointment is on Wednesday, by the way." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Are we okay?" He asked unsurely.

Ziva shifted and leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck, burying her head in his shoulder. "We are fine, Tony."

Tony nodded. "Okay. Are you alright? I'm sure Gibbs would be okay if we went and got coffee and just walked for a while." He suggested.

Ziva shook her head. "I am hurt, but I am okay. It will heal. I think I just have to learn to accept what I get from my father and remember that I have the best family that I could ever ask for around me every day. And if he cannot see that, then it is his loss."

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "He doesn't deserve you."

Ziva shrugged and shook out her head. "We should get inside, we are late." She said, looking at the clock.

Tony nodded. "Yeah… let's go."

XXXXX

Tony had made sure to keep an eye on Ziva throughout the day. He was thankful that it had been a quiet day, they could just make phone calls from their desks. He was even more thankful when Gibbs gave them the dismissive nod that told them they could go home.

He grabbed his bag and his jacket and walked toward Ziva's desk, where she was pulling on her own jacket. He grabbed her bag off the floor and held his hand out to her.

"See you tomorrow." Tony called to Gibbs and McGee as they walked toward the elevator.

Tony and Ziva stepped off the elevator on the ground floor of the building and pushed open the front doors to walk across the parking lot.

Ziva pulled her keys out of her jacket pocket and unlocked the car. She and Tony dropped into their seats heavily and slammed the doors.

Ziva looked over at Tony. "I want to show you something." She said as she started the car.

Tony looked over at her curiously. "Okay?" He said unsurely.

Ziva nodded. "Don't worry, it is nothing bad." She told him.

Tony watched her carefully as she drove out of the parking lot.

They sat in the car in silence as Ziva drove through a neighbourhood in D.C. that wasn't too far from her own apartment.

She made a right turn and drove about halfway down the block before she pulled up along the curb and put the car in park. She turned off the car and pulled her key out of the ignition.

She got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side where Tony say, confused.

She pulled open his door and held her hand out to him. "Come with me." She told him.

Tony took her hand and stepped out of the car. He pushed his door closed behind him and looked around.

"What are we doing here?" He asked.

Ziva laced her fingers with his as she began to walk toward the gate in the fence. She closed it again once they were through and led him through the small garden toward a… a shed? Tony was confused.

"Zi, what's going on?" He asked.

Ziva led him up to the little porch that was attached to the shed and she pulled out a small key to unlock the door.

She pulled the door open, and Tony's senses were immediately assaulted with the scent of sawdust, and something that was so, unexplainably Ziva. He stepped inside after her and closed the door as he looked around the small room.

"What is this?" Tony asked once again.

Ziva turned to look at him. "This is where I come when I need to think." She told him.

Tony smiled a bit. It looked like her. It was exactly what you would expect Ziva's personal space to look like. Hard and badass, but with an unexplainable warmth. It was homey.

"I like it." Tony told her.

Ziva nodded. "So do I." She said.

Tony reached out to wrap his arms around her waist. "Why did you bring me here?" He asked curiously.

Ziva turned in his arms to face him. "Because I did not want to keep it secret from you. I did not want you to worry if you could not find me one day." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Alright."

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "If there is ever a time when you do not know where I am, or I am not answering your calls, come here before you dive to conclusions." She told him.

"Jump." He corrected, laughing lightly.

Ziva smiled. "Jump to conclusions." She said before pressing her lips to his gently.

Tony smiled brightly, pulling her tighter against him.

"I am sorry about this morning." She told him softly.

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "Stop apologizing Zi, it's alright. Don't worry about it, it's already been forgotten about." He told her firmly.

Ziva nodded against his shoulder. "Alright."

Tony stepped backward to sit on the small couch against the far wall and he pulled Ziva down onto his lap.

"I'm serious." He told her. "We are allowed to fight. You are allowed to get angry and upset with me."

Ziva nodded. "I know, I am… I am scared of going too far, or saying the wrong thing when I am angry… I do not want to hurt you." She told him quietly.

Tony kissed her temple softly. "I know you don't, and I know that if you do, you don't mean it. People say things in the heat of the moment. It's okay. I've done it plenty. Don't be scared to tell me what you're thinking, I want to know, no matter what. And I will always forgive you." He told her.

Ziva nodded against him. "Let me up for a second, I want to give you something."

Tony released his hold on her waist and Ziva stood from his lap and walked over to the desk. She pulled open the drawer and rooted through it for a moment before she pulled out a key. She walked back over to Tony and held it out to him.

"Here." She said simply.

Tony looked up at her. "I don't need that Zi." He told her. "I won't use it." He said. He didn't want to invade her private space.

Ziva dropped the key into his hand. "Take it, just in case." She told him.

Tony nodded slowly and put the key in his pocket, to be added to his keyring later, but he really had no intentions to use it.

Ziva sat back down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I have not come out here since August." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I know, you haven't really had the time. That's mostly my fault." He said.

Ziva shook her head. "No, it isn't. I haven't needed to be here. I have been perfectly comfortable with you." She told him. "And I can write in a journal just as easily from my bed as I can at my desk."

Tony nodded. "I guess that's true. You know I wouldn't mind though right, if you needed to get away for a few hours, it's okay." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I know, that is why I wanted you to know about it. So if I ever disappear for a while, I am most likely just out here trying to sort some things out." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Alright. Can I ask for something?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Sure."

"If you ever decide to come out here, just send me a text before you stop communicating for a while. Just so I know for sure that you're alright. I worry." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I can do that." She told him.

She rested her head on his chest and sat silently with him for a few minutes.

"You remember when you asked me how long I had been writing for?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

Ziva pushed herself off the couch once more and walked over to the cabinet on the wall and pulled the doors open.

Tony was amazed to see the amount of journals that she had stacked within the cabinet.

"They're all full?" He asked.

Ziva nodded.

"Wow." Was all Tony could think to say.

Ziva laughed lightly. "You can read some of them if you want to, I do not mind." She told him.

Tony shook his head. "I couldn't do that, they're your private thoughts. If you wanted them shared you would have said them out loud." He said.

Ziva nodded. "Technically yes, but I truly do not mind if you want to look through them." She said as she walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I do not want to have any secrets from you. And I know that you would not think of me any differently if you read them." She told him.

Tony shrugged. "It just feels weird."

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "I am not saying you have to read them Tony, I am just saying that the option is there, and I do not mind if it is just you. I trust you." She told him.

Tony nodded as his eyes drifted back toward the cabinet. "You said you started writing when you were a teenager, are some of these from that long ago?" He asked curiously.

Ziva shook her head. "No, those ones are… probably still in my family's home in Israel. These are what I've written since moving here and joining NCIS." She told him.

"Wow." Tony said. "I never would've pegged you as a writer."

Ziva laughed. "I would hardly call myself a writer. I just think a lot, and writing my thoughts helps to organize them." She said.

"That's cool though, you kind of have a chronicle of your life. I wish I had thought of that." Tony said, chuckling lightly.

Ziva smiled. "You could always start." She said. "Writing in a journal helps a lot of people with PTSD, you never know, it may help you too." She suggested.

Tony nodded. "Maybe I will." He said.

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "We should get home and try to find something for dinner." She told him.

Tony nodded and looked down at his watch. It was already 21:30.

"Why don't we just hit a drive-thru?" Tony asked.

Ziva looked up at him. "Anything but McDonald's." She said, cringing.

Tony laughed. "Alright, how about pizza? Or Chinese? That one place by the apartment is pretty good. And we might have leftovers for tomorrow." He suggested.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. Chinese sounds good." She said.

Tony pulled away from her and Ziva led him out of the small building. He watched as she locked the door and slid the keys back into her pocket.

Ziva was taken by surprise when he reached out and pulled her toward him as she turned around. He kissed her softly, wrapping his arms around her waist. Ziva's hands drifted up to run through his hair gently.

"Thank you for bringing me here." He said quietly as they pulled away from the kiss.

Ziva nodded. "You are welcome here any time, whether I am here or not, alright? I already told the landlady that I would be giving you the spare key." Ziva told him.

Tony nodded. "Thank you." He said. He didn't plan on coming here by himself, it was Ziva's space, and now that they worked together, and he had moved into her apartment, he thought it might be nice for her to have a space that as just hers.

Ziva kissed his cheek softly as she slid her hand into his. "Let's go get dinner and get into bed, I am exhausted." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Sounds good, lead the way, mon cherie."


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, so first off, hello, I know I've been gone a long time, but I think I am back now... so sorry about my absence. But I have recently hit a creative patch again and I think I am good to go for a while! And also Cote came back, and yeah, i know that was like a month and a half ago, but I don't care, I'm still screaming.

This is a bit of a shorter chapter, mostly because it was the first thing I have written in such a long time, but oh well. This is chapter fourteen, and I am currently planning two more chapter for this one, and then I will be writing part four soon afterward, so make sure you turn on my notifications if you want to continue reading my stuff! I have a complete like 8 or 9 part series planned for this, and who knows, it could go on longer! Anyway, I'll stop rambling so you can actually go and read now! Let me know what you think! Enjoy chapter 14!

* * *

 _ **Fourteen**_

"I miss her." Ziva admitted to Tony as they sat in bed Tuesday night.

Tony pulled her closer to him. "Tomorrow's her birthday." He stated.

Ziva nodded silently.

"Do you want to do anything?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged her shoulders. "I do…" She told him.

"But...?" Tony asked.

Ziva was silent for a minute, thinking. "I would not know what to do. Because she loved music so much, I would take her to the opera in Tel Aviv every year."

Tony smiled. "What did you see?" He asked.

"So many things. We never saw the same thing twice. Our favorite was Gianni Schicci. Actually, it was the last one we saw together, on her sixteenth birthday."

Tony pressed a gently kiss to the side of her head. "Do you want to go?" He asked. "I'm sure we could find it somewhere around here."

Ziva smiled. "That would be nice."

"I'll look around tomorrow." Tony said.

Ziva nodded. "Thank you."

"So red velvet cake, I hope with cream cheese frosting?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "Of course. What other frosting goes on red velvet?"

"Some people like to eat cake with no icing." Tony countered.

Ziva grimaced. "Absolutely not. The cake is too dry without the icing."

Tony smiled brightly. "That's my girl." He said with a laugh.

Ziva smiled as she laid her head on his chest.

The couple sat in silence for a few moments before Ziva took a deep breath.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked quietly.

Tony nodded as his hand raised to rub her back gently. "Of course."

Ziva hesitated.

Tony kissed the top of her head softly. "What is it Zi?" He asked.

Ziva bit her lip, trying to pluck up the courage to say it. It wasn't a big deal, she knew it wasn't, but it still felt awkward.

"Can I… is it… would it be alright with you, if I told Lilian that we had sex?" She asked brokenly.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, if you need to talk about it, why wouldn't it be?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "It just seemed personal." She said quietly.

"I understand that. But if you need to talk about it, you should." He told her. "Are you alright?" He asked, suddenly worried that he had somehow retraumatized her,

Ziva lifted her head off his chest to look at him. "I am fine." She told him. "Really Tony, I am. I do not regret it, and I definitely want it to happen again. Soon. Do not worry about that." She told him firmly.

Tony nodded. "You'd tell me if you weren't though, right?" He asked.

Ziva kissed him softly. "You know I would. I just wanted to make sure it was alright with you if I told her. I did not want to violate your privacy." She said.

Tony nodded. "I get that. But you are perfectly free to talk about anything involving me, alright?"

Ziva nodded. "So are you." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Alright." He agreed. "Are you alright though? I mean, we just haven't really talked about it."

Ziva smiled brightly. "I am perfect." She told him honestly. "I have never been happier."

Tony smiled. "Me either." He said. "Can I ask you something though?"

Ziva nodded.

"How have your nightmares been?" He asked timidly.

Ziva sighed. "They are still there. You know that, you have seen them. But they do not scare me as much. I know that sounds odd, but…" She trailed off.

Tony squeezed her hip gently, urging her to continue.

"Now that I have that feeling that you were the last person inside of me, not Saleem or his men, I feel… peaceful, and somehow I do not feel as dirty, and as used as I did before." She told Tony, tears stinging the backs of her eyes.

Tony kissed her forehead softly. "I'm glad I could do that for you." He told her.

Ziva smiled softly, resting her head on his shoulder. "How do you feel about it?" She asked.

Tony sighed. "I don't really know. Well, no, that's not what I mean. It's good. Really good, I promise." He said.

"What don't you know?" Ziva inquired.

Tony shrugged. "It was amazing, and I loved it, and I love you, and I don't want to take it back or anything, but I still have this… I don't know… kind of conflicted part of me, I guess." He admitted quietly.

Ziva wrapped her arms around him and kissed his jaw softly. "That is completely understandable." She told him.

"Really?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "Of course." She reassured. "Why do you think you feel conflicted?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "I don't really know. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, or that I wasn't ready…" He trailed off for a moment, sinking deep into his thoughts.

Ziva stayed silent, letting him work through his feelings.

"I thought I would feel like my old self. Like I did before the attack. And I don't. I mean, I do feel different, I feel better. But I don't completely feel like myself." Tony said.

Ziva nodded. "Can I be honest?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Please."

"I don't think we are ever going to be our old selves again. Not exactly. We can't be, after everything…" She told him.

"Then I'm scared." Tony said.

Ziva looked up at him. "So am I." She admitted. "But if you think about it… we change every day. We are completely different people than we were a year ago, or even six months ago. This, Somalia, your attack, our relationship, and sex… it's just a series of bigger changes than we were expecting." She reasoned.

Tony nodded. "And all of those changes brought us to this moment." He agreed.

Ziva smiled softly. "But we are still us. You are still one of the best agents I have ever worked with, and your sense of humor hasn't changed. You just see things a little differently now. I do not think that is a bad thing." She told him.

"I don't think it is either." Tony said.

"And with time, it will keep getting better." Ziva said.

"I know it will." Tony agreed. "It's just a bit awkward in the middle."

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "Exactly." She said. "But as long as we are here, and we love each other… I am okay with a bit of awkward."

Tony turned to kiss her tenderly. "Me too."

Ziva smiled brightly as she ran her thumb along his jawline.

"We should sleep. You have work, and I have an appointment with Lilian in the morning." She said.

Tony groaned. "I love work, but I really wish it was more of a sleep-in job."

Ziva laughed. "You are welcome to sleep in as long as you want, if you feel like dealing with Gibbs' consequences when you do make it into work."

Tony grimaced. "Yeah, not a chance." He told her as they both laid down, snuggling close together.

Tony rested his head on Ziva's chest gently, listening to her heartbeat.

"Night Zi." He said, already feeling himself relax as her fingers ran through his hair.

"Goodnight Tony. I love you." Ziva said softly.

Tony smiled against her. "Love you too."


	15. Chapter 15

_Another new chapter! And it didn't take six months to write! Hope you enjoy this one, I am only planning one more chapter for this particular story, and then I have a fourth part planned! Anyway, get to reading, and let me know what you think!_

* * *

 _ **Fifteen**_

Both Ziva and Tony groaned loudly as their alarm clock beeped in their ears the next morning.

Tony's hand reached out and blindly slapped around for the off button, missing a few times before the beeping finally stopped.

Ziva stretched and yawned, groaning as she sat up.

Tony pushed his face into the pillow. "It's too early to be awake." He said.

Ziva laughed. "You were the one who set the alarm." She reminded him.

Tony growled into the pillow. "Don't remind me."

Ziva reached out to run her hand over his back gently, before pressing a gentle kiss to his shoulder.

"Come on, we should shower and get going." She told him.

Tony nodded. "We should." He agreed.

Neither of them moved. They sat together silently, Ziva's hand playing over Tony's back gently for a few minutes.

"Okay. Come on." Ziva said as she tapped his butt playfully before pushing herself off the bed. "I'll get the water warmed up."

Tony nodded. "I'll be in in a minute."

Ten minutes later, Ziva stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She walked back into the bedroom and laughed lightly to herself when she saw Tony lying in bed, still asleep.

She sat down on the bed beside him and let her hand run over his back lightly.

"Tony. Come on love, it's time to wake up." She said softly.

Tony groaned and pushed his head into the pillow. "Fine." He grumbled before he pushed himself upright. "I hate early mornings."

Ziva kissed his cheek. "Go get ready, I will make toast." She told him.

Tony nodded and stomped off to the bathroom for his own shower.

Ziva set about getting dressed and gathering all of her things for the day quickly before she headed to the kitchen and grabbed a loaf of bread for toast.

XXXXX

Ziva pulled open the door to Lilian's office and walked up to the desk.

"Good morning." She said to Jenna, the receptionist as she picked up the pen to sign the sign-in sheet.

Jenna smiled. "Good morning." She said pleasantly.

Ziva put the pen back into the cup that she got it from and unzipped her jacket. She hung it on the coat rack in the corner of the room and sat down in her usually chair to wait.

"Lilian will be with you in a few minutes." Jenna told her.

Ziva smiled. "Alright, thank you."

She didn't have to wait more than a minute before Lilian's office door opened and she stepped into the waiting room.

"Come on in Ziva." She said pleasantly.

Ziva followed her into the office and made herself comfortable on the familiar couch as Lilian sat in her own chair.

"So how have things been?" Lilian asked.

Ziva smiled. "Good. Really good." She told her.

Lilian smiled. "That's great, what's been happening?" She asked.

Ziva bit her lip. She knew she could say it, she had told Lilian much more personal things before, but this still felt odd.

She took a deep breath. "Tony… Tony and I had sex." She said quietly.

She didn't know why she was so embarrassed. This was a good thing.

Lilian was surprised. That wasn't what she expected to hear. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

Ziva shrugged. "What is there to talk about? It happened, we both enjoyed it, it was good." She said.

Lilian nodded. "No, I absolutely agree, but it is still a big step, especially from where you're both coming from." She said.

Ziva nodded. "I do feel really good about it." She told Lilian.

"But?" Lilian asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I had a bit of a… I don't know, a moment of panic, while we were…" She trailed off.

"What happened?" Lilian asked.

Ziva shook her head. "I asked, I wanted Tony on top of me, and then he was on top of me, and I just… I panicked. I felt like I was back in that room, on the floor. It scared me. I pushed Tony off of me, I just couldn't do it." She said sadly.

Lilian nodded. "That's perfectly normal, Ziva." She reassured. "What did Tony do when you pushed him away?" She asked.

Ziva smiled sadly, remembering the concern she had heard in Tony's voice from the side of the bed.

"He did what he always does." She told Lilian. "He brought me back. He made me feel safe." She said.

Lilian nodded, waiting for Ziva to continue.

"We just laid there and talked for a while. I told him that I wasn't scared of him. I could never be scared of him, it was just… having someone on top of me like that, I felt…" She trailed off for a moment, thinking. "I felt almost claustrophobic. Like I was in a cage."

Lilian nodded. "Okay, keep going with that feeling, why do you think you had that feeling?" She asked.

Ziva shrugged. "Because I got used to being in pain whenever someone was on top of me." She said simply. "But I knew that Tony would never hurt me. So, I told him I wanted to try again."

"And what was his response?" Lilian asked.

"Hesitant. He didn't want to scare me." Ziva said. "But we did try again."

"And?" Lilian asked.

Ziva sighed. "I… it sounds stupid, but I had to keep my eyes open, for a minute, so my mind could really grasp that it was Tony, and that he loved me, and he was gentle." She told her.

Lilian nodded. "Did it help?" She asked.

Ziva nodded, a smile returning to creep through her features. "It really did. I felt things, that I had not felt in such a long time… I knew that it was an act of love. Not power, or anger. It was really amazing." She said honestly.

Lilian smiled. "That's great Ziva!" She told her. "I'm proud of you. And Tony, for that matter." She said.

"There was a lot of emotion, afterwards. Mostly from me, I had forgotten how good it could be. They were definitely happy tears." Ziva said.

"How have your nightmares been since?" Lilian asked. She knew that they would probably never be completely cured, but sometimes a big step is one of the most helpful.

Ziva thought for a moment. "I think they have been okay. They have not gotten any worse."

Lilian nodded. "Well that's good at least."

Ziva nodded. "I know they will most likely always affect me, but I do not usually wake up paralyzed with fear anymore."

"And what happens on the nights that you do?" Lilian asked.

Ziva shrugged. "Tony is there. He is always there to talk me back down. He keeps me calm without even trying." She said.

Lilian smiled. "That's really great. I'm glad you have someone that can be that support for you. I think you've come a long way since you started seeing Tony." She told her.

Ziva nodded. "He is good for me."

Lilian nodded in agreement. "Yes, he is."

XXXXX

An hour and a half later, Ziva was unlocking her apartment door so she could change her clothes and head into work. She had dropped Tony off at work on her way to see Lilian, and since had the first appointment of the day, that meant that Tony arrived at work almost an hour before he normally would have.

She pushed open the apartment door and she was slightly shocked when she saw Tony sitting on the couch with his laptop on his lap.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she shut the door behind her.

"We're on Gibbs' speed dial if we get a case. I told him I needed the day." Tony said.

Ziva was unsure, but she was thankful that Gibbs had Tony's best interest in mind when he made decisions. She appreciated it more than he knew. But that mean the question had to become: why did Tony need the day?

"Are you alright?" Ziva asked as she sat down on the couch beside him.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I was just waiting for you." He told her.

He shut his computer and set it down on the coffee table. "Stay here." He told her, before he got up and walked into the kitchen.

Ziva heard the cupboards opening and dishes being moved around before Tony walked back into the living room with two plates, each containing a large slice of red velvet cake.

He set them down on the coffee table before he turned his attention to the table that housed all of the take-out menus Ziva had collected over the years. He pulled out what Ziva thought was a picture frame. He closed the drawer and pulled the stand on the frame out and set it down on the table facing Ziva.

Tears sprung to her eyes when she realized that the photo was Tali. Her sister had probably just turned sixteen when the photo was taken, making it one of the last that was ever captured of her little sister.

"Where did you get this?" Ziva asked, looking up at Tony.

Tony smiled a bit. "Aunt Nettie always comes through for me." He told her as he sat down beside her.

Ziva laughed lightly. "Of course she does."

Tony handed her one of the plates. "We are also going to see La Traviata tomorrow night. I hope that's okay." He said.

Ziva wiped a tear off her cheek, smiling a bit. "It's perfect." She told him. "Thank you. You really didn't have to do all of this."

Tony nodded. "I know that." He told her. "But you're my family, which means that Tali is too. And so is Ari, and your mother. I want to be here to do things that are important to you. And I know this is." He told her.

Ziva wiped more tears off her face as she leaned on Tony's shoulder.

"Tali would have loved you." She told him.

Tony smiled. "I hope so. I always wanted a little sister." He told her.

Ziva nodded as she took a bite of her cake. "She was the best little sister you could have gotten."

Tony smiled. "I don't doubt that." He told her. "We can do this every year if you want. For every birthday." He said.

"As long as we get to celebrate your mother's birthday too." Ziva said.

Tony nodded. "I'd like that. So would Senior. And so would she."


	16. Chapter 16

_Well, here we are again. This is the last chapter of Life Surprises You (part 3 of my series) It took me a while to finish this one, but I did it, and I like where it has gone. There will definitely be a fourth (and fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth) part to this series. Part 4 will probably start to get uploaded around Christmas/New Years, so make sure I'm added to your_ _favourite/followed authors so you can get that notification! Anyway, part 3 has been a long ride, but I hope you enjoy the ending!_

 _Okay, now actually go read it, I'm done babbling for now._

* * *

 _ **Sixteen**_

Ziva pushed the back onto her earring as she looked herself over in the full-length mirror in the bathroom. She had chosen a simple black dress that hugged her curves. She lifted the bottom of her dress as she stepped into her shoes. She looked herself over once more before she pulled the bathroom door open.

Tony heard the bathroom door opening from the bedroom as he was straightening his tie. He tucked it into his jacket and looked up at the bedroom door and saw Ziva standing there, leaning against the doorframe, watching him.

He smiled brightly as he walked toward her. Her hair was down, and she had left it curly, so it framed her face perfectly.

"You look… perfect." Tony stuttered, resting his hands on her waist.

Ziva smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him softly. "So do you." She told him.

Tony smiled and caught a glimpse of the clock on the nightstand. "We should get going."

Ziva nodded. "Are you ready?" She asked.

"Always." Tony said.

Ziva laughed lightly and led him down the hallway, toward the front door.

Tony locked the door behind them and slipped his keys into his jacket pocket. He reached for Ziva's hand as they walked toward the elevator, tangling their fingers together.

Ziva pressed the call button for the elevator and the doors slid open for them. The doors slid shut behind them, and she found herself looking at Tony's reflection next to hers in the metallic doors. She smiled softly. Even though the reflection was distorted, they looked good together.

She turned her head to look up at Tony. "I love you."

Tony squeezed her hand, looking down at her. "I love you too." He told her.

The doors slid open before she could say anything else and Tony led her to the front door of the building. He pushed the door open and held it for her to walk through.

Tony let the door close behind them and he resumed his position beside her, holding her hand. He looked up the street a few feet and smiled. It was right where he wanted it. Tony began to walk in the opposite direction of Ziva, and she turned when his arm pulled hers.

"Where are you going?" Ziva asked. "Your car is that way."

Tony nodded. "It is, but tonight, he's driving." Tony told her, pointing toward a black Lincoln Town Car up the street. The driver was standing by the back door waiting for them.

Ziva was surprised. "You didn't have to do that Tony." She said as she allowed him to lead her toward the car.

Tony squeezed her hand again. "I know. Come on." He said.

"Good evening." The driver said as Tony and Ziva approached him. "Mister and missis DiNozzo?" He asked.

"I'm Tony." Tony told the driver, who nodded and reached for the back-door handle.

He pulled the back door open and Tony stepped aside to allow Ziva to get in first, before he followed.

Tony settled beside Ziva and clipped his seatbelt.

Ziva looked up at him. "Mister and missis DiNozzo?" She asked, smirking.

Tony laughed. "Sorry?" He said.

Ziva laughed lightly. "I do not mind."

Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her temple. 'Good to know,' he thought to himself.

XXXXX

Tony pulled Ziva close as they walked out of the opera house.

"That was beautiful." Ziva said.

"Was it as good as the version you've seen before?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded. "Definitely." She told him.

Tony smiled. "I'm glad you liked it." He looked down at his watch. "You know there's still time to grab some dinner."

"That sounds good. What were you thinking?" She asked.

Tony shrugged. "La Lanterne?" He asked. He knew it was Ziva's favorite.

Ziva looked up at him. "Are you sure?" She asked. It was expensive, which is why she had only been there twice. "The opera tickets…" She pointed out.

Tony nodded. "I'm sure." He told her.

Ziva thought about it for a minute. "If you are sure."

Tony kissed her forehead. "Come on." He said as he reached to open the door of the waiting car for her.

Ziva turned to kiss him softly before she got into the car.

"To the restaurant mister DiNozzo?" The driver asked.

Tony nodded. "Please."

Ziva looked up at him. "You planned this already?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Yep."

"And how did you know I would say yes?" Ziva asked.

Tony grinned. "I'm irresistible." He stated.

Ziva rolled her eyes playfully. "Sure, that was it." She said with a laugh.

Tony laughed and wrapped an arm around Ziva's shoulders.

XXXXX

Tony pulled the door open for Ziva, smiling brightly as she walked past him. He followed her into the restaurant, reaching for her hand to tangle their fingers together.

The hostess smiled as they approached. "Good evening. Do you have a reservation?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Under DiNozzo." He told her.

They watched as the hostess scrolled through her computer. "For two?" She asked.

Tony nodded.

She nodded and pulled two menus out from under the counter. "Right this way." She told them.

She led them through the restaurant to a small cornered off booth in the back of the dining room.

"This is what you wanted, mister DiNozzo?" She asked.

Tony nodded. "Perfect, thank you."

The hostess placed the menus on the table. "Your server will be with you in a moment." She told them before she turned t go back to her place behind the counter.

Tony and Ziva sat down across from each other.

"This place is pretty nice." Tony said as he opened his menu.

Ziva smiled. "Their steak is amazing. Definitely one of my favorites." She told him.

"I'm assuming that's what you're getting then?" Tony asked.

Ziva nodded, although she was looking over the menu carefully. "I think so."

Tony smiled. "I think I'll try it." He told her.

Ziva smiled. "I do not think you will be disappointed."

Tony was surprised when a young waiter approached their table.

"My name is Steven; I'll be your server for the evening. Can I get you anything to drink?" He asked politely.

Tony nodded for Ziva to answer first. "I will just have water, please." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Me too, please."

Steven nodded. "And do you need any more time to look over the menu?" He asked.

Tony and Ziva shook their heads.

"We're good to go." Tony said.

Steven picked up his notepad and clicked his pen. "And what will it be this evening miss?" He asked, looking over at Ziva.

"I will have the house steak, with asparagus and potatoes." Ziva told him.

Steven nodded. "And how would you like your steak prepared?" He asked.

"Well-done, please." Ziva said.

Steven nodded and turned to Tony. "And you sir?" He asked.

"I'll have the same." He told him.

Steven nodded. "Steak well-done as well?" He asked.

"Medium-well please." Tony said.

"Alright." Steven said as he flipped his notebook closed. "I'll be right back with your water." He told them before he turned and rushed away.

Tony looked over at Ziva. "I wasn't expecting them to be that quick." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I know, their service is amazing." She agreed.

They sat together in a comfortable silence as Steven brought their drinks and set them down on the table.

"Thank you." They said simultaneously.

Steven nodded and left them once again.

Ziva turned back to Tony. "So how long have you been planning this?" She asked.

Tony laughed lightly. "Just a few days, since I bought the opera tickets." He said.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you for that by the way, and this… it was amazing." She said, reaching across the table to hold his hand.

Tony ran his thumb over the back of her hand gently. "I'm glad you've enjoyed yourself."

Ziva nodded. "No one has ever done anything like this with me." She told him.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "I mean, people have taken me out before, but it has never meant what it does right now." She said.

Tony nodded. "Because of Tali?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, but also just because I love you, and you are the most important person in the world to me." She said.

Tony squeezed her hand gently. "I know that feeling." He said. "And like I said before, if you want to go see something for her birthday every year, we can absolutely do that."

Ziva smiled. "I think it could be a good tradition."

XXXXX

Tony took the last bite of his steak and set his fork and knife down.

"That was the best steak I've had in my life." He told Ziva, who was just finishing her meal as well.

She nodded. "I told you it would be."

Tony laughed. "Whatever you say." He told her playfully.

He looked down at his watch, and he was surprised when he realized that they had been at the restaurant for over an hour. They had fallen into easy conversation before their dinner had arrived, and it kept popping up as they were trying to eat. The last few bites were definitely cold by the time they had gotten around to them, but considering the conversation partner, and the flavour of the steak, it was well worth it.

He was even more impressed when Steven appeared quickly once again.

"All done with these?" Steven asked, eyeing the empty plates.

Tony nodded. "Yep, thanks." He said as Steven picked them up.

"Can I bring you a dessert menu?" Steven asked.

Ziva was the first to speak this time. "Not tonight, I don't think." She said.

Tony looked over at her questioningly, but didn't say anything about it.

"Just the bill, please." Tony told him.

Steven nodded. "Absolutely, I'll be right back." She told him before taking their dishes away.

Tony looked over at Ziva, who was watching him carefully, a small smirk on her face.

Just as he opened his mouth to ask her a question, Steven arrived back with them.

He handed Tony the bill, and Tony pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket. He handed Steven some cash. "Keep the rest." He told him.

Steven smiled. "Thank you. Have a good night." He said before he retreated to the cash drawer behind the front counter.

Tony stood from his seat and reached a hand out to Ziva. "Shall we?" He asked.

Ziva smiled and took his hand, allowing him to help her to her feet. "Absolutely." She said as she kissed Tony's cheek softly. "Thank you." She said once again.

Tony smiled and tangled their fingers together as he led her out of the restaurant.

They stopped walking in front of the back door of the car Tony had arranged and Tony wrapped his arms around Ziva's waist.

"So can I ask why you declined what could have been a fantastic dessert?" Tony asked.

Ziva smiled and wrapped her arms around Tony's neck. He kissed him softly before her lips travelled over his jawline, resting just below his ear.

"Because I would rather go home and have you… help me out of this dress." She told him quietly.

He felt her smirk against his neck and his grip around her waist tightened slightly.

"I think that could be arranged…"


End file.
